Skip to main content

Full text of "marker_lamp_winter_20"

See other formats 




liUlOlCl 

_* * 1 


HUP; 


idAjmtw-* 


uruvJ d 













































r 




The Marker Lamp 

The Official Publication of 
The Lone Star Region of the 
National Model Railroad Association 

Volume 66, Number 1 

EDITOR 

RILEY TRIGGS 

512.636.3521 

rilevtriaas@amail.com 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

GERT “SPEED” MULLER 
lsrtreasurer@huntatrophv.com 


ADVERTISING 

GERT “SPEED” MULLER 
lsrtreasurer@huntatrophv.com 


Visit the LSR’s web page at: 

www.lonestarreaion.com 


The editorial policy of The Marker Lamp, the 
official publication of The Lone Star Region, 
shall be to contribute, wherever possible, to the 
promotion, growth and understanding of the 
hobby of Model Railroading, within the confines 
of good taste and responsibility. The Marker 
Lamp is published once each quarter by and 
for the members of The Lone Star Region 
of The National Model Railroad Association. 
Articles appearing in The Marker Lamp are the 
opinions of the authors and do not necessarily 
reflect the position or policies of the officers or 
membership of The Lone Star Region or The 
National Model Railroad Association. 

Address all correspondence, news, photos 
and drawings to the editor. All material will be 
gladly accepted and will be used depending 
on the availability of space and suitability 
of material. None will be returned unless a 
stamped, self-addressed envelope is provided. 
Correspondence relating to Pike Ads and Deal¬ 
er Ads should be addressed to Speed Muller 
lsrtreasurer@huntatrophy.com 


Cover photo 

Duane Richardson & Ray Byer making 
ribbons in the contest room 
by Donna Orr 


Submission Deadlines & 
Advertising Closing Dates 


Winter Issue.... 
Spring Issue ... 
Summer Issue 
Fall Issue. 


.January 15 

.April 15 

.July 15 

.October 15 




Internet Post Date: 

Approx. 30 Days After Deadline. 

Materials received after the deadline will 
be held for the next issue. 


Lone Star Region Call Board 

LSR Officers 


PRESIDENT 
CHUCK LIND, MMR 
3680 CR 324 
Navasota, Texas 77868 
(979)219-3305 
Chucklind46@gmail.com 

BOARD ADVISOR 
STEVE BARKLEY, MMR 
2060 Belvedere Drive 
Beaumont,Texas 77706 
(210) 653-5947 
bavlormax@aol.com 


VICE-PRESIDENT 
RAY BYER 
713-472-4599 
ravbyer@vahoo.com 


TREASURER 

GERT "SPEED" MULLER 


SECRETARY 
JEFF PALMER 
2806 High Plateau Dr. 
Garland, Texas 75044 
(972) 495-2097 
res06wqv@gte.net 

SECRETARY-EMERITUS 
EUNICE LINDA 


lsrtreasurer@huntatrophv. 

com 


3028 Cumberland 
Waco, Texas 76707-1219 
(254) 754-5535 
ilinda@hot.rr.com _ 


LSR Directors-At-Large 


DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE 
BLAKE BOGS 
8202 Pine Thistle Ln. 

Spring,TX 77379 
713-254-7447 

superchiefl 520@gmail.com 


DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE 
MARC LACHEY 
2218 Blackberry Dr. 
Richardson, TX 75082 
214-507-7779 
bu1977@att.net 


DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE 
RILEY TRIGGS 
1005 Azie Morton Rd 
Austin,Texas 78704 
(512) 636-3521 
rilevtriggs@gmail.com 


LSR Division Directors 


(1) COWCATCHER DIVISION 
MIKE MACKEY 
1633 Parkside Trail 
Lewisville,Texas 75077 
214-460-1329 

director@cowcatcherdivision.org 

(4) CEN-TEX DIVISION 
BOBTHIEL 

director@centexnmra.org 


(7) DIVISION 
DON P. KIMMELL 
9132 Mansfield Road 
Shreveport, Louisiana 71118 
(318) 798-7718 
elf4kcs@mac.com 


(2) BAYOU DIVISION 
KEN MASON 
4340 COLORADO AVE 
KENNER, LA 70065 
504-722-6610 
series9parts@cox.net 

(5) DIVISION 
DAVE LAMBERTS 
3717 95th Street 
Lubbock, Texas 79423-3811 
(806) 792-7244 
DavidWLI 944@aol.com 

(8) TEXAS GULF DIVISION 

JIMLEMMOND 

2821 Frostwood Circle 

Dickinson,Texas 77539 

281-534-6179 

281-229-0845 

iimlem@verzion.net 


(3)TRINITY RIVER DIVISION 
DONNA ORR 

2625 Rolling Meadows Dr. 
Rockwall, TX 75087 
(972) 722-4769 
dlo-rls@sbcglobal.net 

(6) DIVISION 

DON WINN 

18026 Bishops Pond 

San Antonio, TX 78257 

(940)391-0950 

donswinn@gmail.com 



LSR Chairs 


ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM 

DUANE RICHARDSON, MMR 

1122 Holland Drive 

Garland, TX 75040 
(972) 495-6375 

duane@Duraatorvanddevilriver.com 

PUBLICATIONS- ML EDITOR 
RILEY TRIGGS 

1005 Azie Morton Rd 

Austin,Texas 78704 
(512) 636-3521 
rilevtriaas@amail.com 

CONTEST CHAIR 

RAY BYER 

713-472-4599 

ravbver@vahoo.com 

CONVENTION 

MARC LACHEY 

2218 Blackberry Dr. 

Richardson, TX 75082 

214-507-7779 

bu1977@att.net 

HISTORIAN 

BOB BARNETT 

2925 Plumb Street 

Houston, Texas 77005 
(713) 660-8820 
Barnett6@sbcalobal.net 

NOMINATIONS CHAIR 

PETE LEACH 
oleachtx55@amail.com 

EVENTS 

BILLDRYDEN 

202Tallwood Drive 

Georgetown, Texas 78628 
(469) 964-8571 
bdr149@airmail.net 

WEB SITE-PUBLIC RELATIONS 

JEFF PALMER 

2806 High Plateau Dr. 

Garland, Texas 75044 
(972) 495-2097 
res06wqv@ate.net 

PHOTOGRAPHY CHAIR 
MICHAEL HARANG 

17386 Williams Rd. 
Franklinton, LA 70438 
469-556-9371 
miharana@amail.com 

MEMBERSHIP CO-CHAIRMAN 

MIKE MACKEY 

1700 Desperado Road 

Fort Worth, TX 76131 
214-460-1329 

mikemackev tx@sbcalobal.net 

PARLIAMENTARIAN 

RAY BYER 

713-472-4599 

ravbver@vahoo.com 

NON-RAIL 

VIRGINIA FREITAG 

1835 Alta Vista 

Houston, Texas 77023-2503 
(713) 926-2993 
v-afreitaa@comcast.net 

EDUCATION CHAIR 

VACANT 

YOUTH CHAIR 

JIM LEMMOND 

2821 Frostwood Circle 

Dickinson, Texas 77539 
281-534-6179 

281-229-0845 

iimlem@verzion.net 



2 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 
























































President's 

Message 

by Chuck Lind, MMR 
Chucklind46&amail.com 


H ope everyone made it through the holiday season 
without any problems other than maybe too much 
to eat. I have just returned from the LSR Convention 
in Houston and the Board Meeting. Bob Barnet promised a 
great convention with a different twist and he and his crew 
delivered. I don't know the final count but is was just over 160 
people. Houston wanted to try combining the convention 
with the train show and even gave the LSR folks an hour 
before the show opened to look for deals. 

The Board meeting was held on Thursday afternoon 
before the convention. Marc LaChey our convention chair 
brought two proposals to the Board for consideration. He 
has been in contact with the Mid-Content Region about 
hosting a joint convention with them. The idea was approved 
by the Mid-Content Board at their January meeting. After 
some discussion and which Region would handle the 
different responsibilities it was approved by the LSR Board 
to participate in the joint convention. It will be held in Tulsa, 
Oklahoma in 2021 - the exact date is still to be announced. 

The responsibility of our region will be to handle clinics, 
guest speaker, and registration. These are all things that can 
be handled remotely and the registration part of this has 
already been handled thanks to Chris Atkins for volunteering. 
If you have suggestions for clinics or guest speaker please 
contact Marc or myself. Marc also presented a proposal from 
Division 4 to host a convention in 2022. This motion also was 
passed. In discussing this with Bob Thiele he was going to 
investigate the possibility of having it in Temple, rich with 
railroad history. 


David Lamberts our Region 5 Director and long time 
Photography Chair decided to step back from being 
Photography Chair. While he was not able to attend the 
Convention in Houston, I did decide to present him with the 
Presidents Award for his many years of service to the LSR. 
While trying to figure out who I could appoint to the position 
I had a member step forward and volunteer. Michael Harang 
of Franklinton, Louisiana. Michael thanks for volunteering! 

We did have a member of the NMRA Board attend the 
Houston Convention. Fred Headon, MMR the Canadian 
Director from Winnipeg cane to take in our warmer weather. 
He attended the Board meeting but his main reason for 
attending was to meet with Jay C. Williams an Orchestra and 
ChoirTeacher who has started up a model railroad club at the 
school several years ago and has been producing some great 
young modelers. The school has been very supportive of this 
venture and has now gotten the attention of the NMRA. Fred 
was going to meet with Jay and the students the Monday 
after the convention to find out how things work. 

We will be having a Board meeting sometime around the 
end of May or first part of June. When the date and time is set 
I will have Jeff send out a notice to the LSR members since all 
meetings are open to the members. 

Thanks again to Houston and also Tulsa and Division 4 for 
steeping forward to host a convention. Back to working on 
my railroad. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


3 









I came for breakfast with Santa, 
but I stayed for the trains 

by Riley Triggs 
rileytriggs(o)gnnail. com 

ponyrr. blogspot.com 
modelroilrooddesign.blogspot.com 



please 

Refrain 

PhD don't 

Touch 


This Austin Model Railway Society’s (AMRS) visitor really wants to touch, but she managed not to. 


F or the second consecutive year, the Austin Model 
Railway Society (AMRS) set up our modular layout for 
the Breakfast with Santa event at the Hope Presbyterian 
Church in north Austin. 

The annual event features a free pancake breakfast and 
photos with Santa. One of our members, Chuck Marling, is a 
member at Hope, and suggested that we participate after we 
rented the gym for several months for our monthly meeting 
and setup. 

Many of our members were able to attend, and everyone 
enjoyed sharing the layout and talking with visitors. Peter 
Bryan was out scouting for engineers, and had several kids 
take turns running the trains. 

This is a great event for our club getting to share the 
layout with more kids than usual, and we held a free raffle for 
the kids. Each child received one free raffle ticket, and then at 
the end of the event, Santa drew the winning ticket. 


The winning child was on the young side and didn't quite 
know what was going on, and he disagreed a bit with all the 
attention he was suddenly getting. But the dad, who had 
asked many questions about the prize and model railroading 
during the day, was very happy and couldn't wait to get home 
to set up the 0 scale Lionel Christmas train set. 

I tend to get caught up in trying to figure out how to get 
more people interested and into the hobby and forget that a 
simple event like this is can be a very effective tool towards 
that end. Just getting in front of people is great advertising 
showing how much fun you can have running trains. 

We'll do it again next Christmas, and we are working on 
other opportunities to engage the general public during 
the year. If you have any events geared towards the general 
public, share them with the Marker Lamp, and 
we can swap notes. 



ElMlIWINTER 2020 I 




















Santa drew the winning ticket for the train set raffle prize. The winner wasn’t happy about the attention, but the dad was happy about the prize. 
AMRS member Joel Davidson (with the clipboard) is officiating the drawing. 

You can’t be too old nor too young to enjoy the trains. Chuck Marling (hat) and John Ames explain how it all works. 










































Over 250 people visited theAMRS layout the morning of breakfast with Santa. AMRS member Peter Bryan recruits engineers for hands-on 
experience running trains. 


George Zapalac runs a Christmas Special through Santa s village. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 












Up the Tracks Events Calendar 


E H| By Bill Dryden 

Here are upcoming events within the LSR of which I am aware. I will provide all the information YOU send me or I can glean from other 
publications, websites, etc., for these events. Additional information may be available through the NMRA Scale Rails and/or various trade 
magazines or various websites. Also, note that all show times and dates are at the discretion of the sponsoring organization and are 
subject to change. Please forward any and all information about upcoming events or activities in your area, club, etc., to me via e-mail at 

bdr149@airmail.net . 

Lone Star Region 2021 Annual Convention Joint Regional with Mid-Content Region 

Tulsa, OK!!!! Come all!! 

PARTICIPATE!!! 

RECURRING EVENTS AND MEETINGS 
LSR Division 2 — Metairie, LA 

LSR Division 2 meets on Mondays between July 30th to October 1 st at the Crescent City Model Railroad Club, 601 N. Lester Ave in Metairie, 
LA 70003 at 6:30 PM for Modular Monday. For more information contact Ken Mason at series9parts@cox.net . 

LSR Division 3 -Trinity River Division - Allen 

The Trinity River Division meets on the Third Saturday of every month at the Christ Servant Lutheran Church, Allen Texas. Occasionally 
things change due to scheduling conflicts so pay close attention to the email meeting notices that go out a week before the meeting. If 
you would like to be added to the email list contact Donna Orr at donnalorrtx@qmail.com . 

LSR Division 4 - Cen-Tex Division - Austin 

The Cen-Tex Division meets bi-monthly at the Austin Northwest Recreational Center, 2913 Northland Drive, Austin, TX. Meetings are held 
at 10:00 am on the Second Saturday of the odd months and include clinics, show-and-tell, DCC minute, social activities and a layout open 
house. For more information about upcoming meetings, see http://centexnmra.org or contact director@centexnmra.org to be added to 

the mail list. 

LSR Division 8 - Texas Gulf Division - Houston 

The Texas Gulf Division presents hands-on-clinics every second Saturday of each month at the Bayland Center, 6400 Bissonnet, Houston. 
The clinic times are 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. All are welcome. To be added to the Division 8 mailing list contact Jim Lemmond at jimlem@ 

comcast.net . The Division 8 web site is http://texasqulfdivision.org/ 

Alamo Model Railroad Engineers - San Antonio 

The Alamo Model Railroad Engineers meets the 2nd Friday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Zucht Building at the Texas Transportation Mu¬ 
seum, 11791 Wetmore Rd., San Antonio TX. For more information call Peter Shavney (210) 317-3661 or Gene Turner (210) 355-2777; or visit 

the web site www.alamomodelrailroadenqineers.com . 

Austin Model Railway Society - Austin 

The Austin Model Railway Society (AMRS) is a HO scale modular group that is open to new members and meets once a month. For more 
information please email Riley Triggs at president@austinrailway.org or visit the web site www.austinrailway.org . 

Houston Area Live Steamers 

HALS has over 9,000 feet of track for you to enjoy and ride on most any Saturday of the year. Someone is usually there every Saturday with 
special run, operations, waybills/timetable, work and fun run days scheduled throughout the year. Our public run days are the third Sat¬ 
urday of the month March through November. Come see our 2,500 foot expansion in Phase 4. Model Railroaders (any scale) are welcome 
to attend most any time. Check our web site out at www.hals.org for schedule of events or e-mail Rick White - rick.white.jr@gmail.com for 

more information. 


8 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 



















New Braunfels Railroad Museum 

Kids Fun Day is held on the 1 st and 3rd Saturday of each month, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. New Braunfels Railroad Museum, 302 South San An¬ 
tonio Street, in the 1907 Restored Railroad Depot; New Braunfels, TX. Museum phone (830) 627-2447. Kids of all ages will have the oppor¬ 
tunity to run model trains and become a Jr. Engineer. Also among the displays at the Kids Fun Day will be a large US Army Model Garden 
(G) Scale and Lego Trains. Visit our Steam Engine, Caboose, Dining Car (available for Birthday Parties) and Box Car. There will be other fun, 
train related activities, additional model trains, train artifacts, our 1907 depot are on display. The Railroad Museum opens at 10:00 am on 
Saturdays. For field trip scheduling and more information, call Howard Young (210) 542-6121, or visit us at www.nbrrm.org . 

North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs - Irving 

The North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs (NTC) meets the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Visit the website www.dfwtrainshows.com for more 

information about the NTC, its meeting site or member clubs. 

Texas Northern Model Railroad Club - Plano 

The Texas Northern Model Railroad Club business meeting is the 1st Thursday of the month and for regular meetings on Thursday evenings 
and most Saturdays. If you like to operate, come by on Tuesday nights to check on our progress in setting up operations. Located in Colin 
Creek Mall, Plano, TX, outside JC Penney's on the lower level. For more information: www.modelrailroadclub.org . 

Texas Western Model Railroad Club - Forest Hills 

The Texas Western Model Railroad Club meets for its business meeting every 1st Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM. The Club is located at 
6808 Forest Hills Drive, Forest Hills, TX. For more information: (682) 587-2092 or www.twmrc.org or email cdo@twmrc.org . 

EVENTS AND SHOWS 

February 

15th Greater Houston Train Show. (Sponsored by the San Jacinto Model Railroad Club). Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Adults $6, Children 
12 to 18 $1, Under 12 Free. Stafford Center, 10505 Cash Road, Stafford,TX. More information at http://saniacmodeltrains.org/. 

22nd - 23rd 44th Annual Jamboree &Train Show. (Sponsored by San Antonio Model Railroad Association). Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 
Sun. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Adults $8, Children (Limit 3) under 16 free when accompanied by a paying adult, Wounded Warriors and Active 
Military and their family free. Garden Ridge Community Center, 9500 Municipal Parkway, Garden Ridge, TX. More information: jamborees 

samratx.org or www.samratx.org . 

March 

7th TCATrain Show. Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Admission $5. First Baptist Church Gym, 325 E. Pine St., Ponchatoula, LA. More infor¬ 
mation: Clay Fourrier at trains@dovetailstudio.com . 

April 

18th - 19th New Braunfels 32nd Annual Train Show Jamboree. (Sponsored by New Braunfels Railroad Museum). Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 

5:00 p.m., Sun. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Adults $8 (14 & older), Child $2 (3-13 years old). New Braunfels Civic Center, 375 South Castell Ave¬ 
nue, New Braunfels,TX. More information: www.newbraunfelsrailroadmuseum.org/trainshow. 

25th Train Day at the Jefferson Parish. (Presented by the National Model Railroad Association, Lone Star Region, Division 2 and the Cres¬ 
cent City Model Railroad Club). Sat. 10 AM - 3 PM. Admission Free. East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave. Metairie, LA. More 

information: (504) 737-3723 or www.ccmrc.com . 

May 

2nd - 3rd Austin Area Train Show 2020. Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sun. 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Adults $7, Children 12 and under 

FREE with adult. Williamson County Expo Center, 5350 Bill Pickett Trail, Taylor, TX. More information: info@austintrainshow.org or https:// 

austintrainshow.org/. 

25th Train Day at the Jefferson Parish. (Presented by the National Model Railroad Association, Lone Star Region, Division 2 and the Cres¬ 
cent City Model Railroad Club). Sat. 10 AM - 3 PM. Admission Free. East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave. Metairie, LA. More 

information: (504) 737-3723 or www.ccmrc.com . 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


9 




















October 


18th - 19th New Braunfels 12th Annual Fall Train Show. (Sponsored by New Braunfels Railroad Museum). Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., 
Sun. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Adults $8 (14 & older), Child $2 (3-13 years old). New Braunfels Civic Center, 375 South Castell Avenue, New 
Braunfels,TX. More information: www.newbraunfelsrailroadmuseum.org/trainshow. 

Excursion Train Trips 

Austin Steam Train; Cedar Park,TX; (512) 477-8468; www.austinsteamtrain.org 

Grapevine Vintage Railroad; Grapevine, TX; (817) 410-3185; www.gvrr.com 

Old Hickory Railroad; Jackson, LA; (225) 634-7397; www.louisianasteamtrain.com 

Texas State Railroad; Palestine & Rusk,TX; (888) 987-2461; www.texasstaterr.com 

Please consider our deadlines for submittals and publications to allow adequate lead time to correctly announce your event - Column sub¬ 
mission deadlines are the 15th of January, April, July and October; publication of the Marker Lamp is the middle of the following month. 



10 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 










Who's track goes there? 



You tell me who's layout this big photo is from, and I give the first person to email me the correct answer at 
rrrduino@huntatrophv.com a campfire lighting Arduino next time we meet! 






































































Do you live in central Texas? 


We're an HO scale modular club with regular meetings in the Austin area. 
Members participate in many ways, from software to scenery to operations. 


Check out all our website at austinrailway.org for more information and how to join. 
You can also reach us at info@austinrailway.com or (512) 836-5275. 


Whether you're new to model railroading, 
want a large layout but don't have the room 
or just want to hang out with friends... 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 


Come join us! 


12 











Since more than one person has asked, here we go...all the sounds that you have collected over the years 
can now be played from your railroad. In this article you will wire a sound playing module to a speaker and a 
Nano with 6 wires. 

Imagine a button to announce the next train ready to leave, a light sensor noticing a stock car at the loading 
chute making some cattle noises, wheels squealing around a curve, or on my layout, elephants and lions in the 
wild! Then there are the crickets that also work when Division 3 is trying to have clinics in several rooms. 

So, save some sounds, (or “songs” called from here on), in MP3 format, onto a micro (u) SD card using your 
personal computer. Reading the documentation makes it a bit confusing, from: the order in which you drag the 
files to the uSD card, to: having up to 100 folders each with up to 255 sounds and commands calling which file 
to play in which folder?!? What I did was save my sound files as 001.mp3, 002.mp3 and so forth in the root 
folder of the drive, and had no trouble getting them to play. Remember to properly “Eject” the card using your 
operating system software before removing it from the computer. Insert it into the uSD Card slot and when you 
power it all up, expect to hear some sounds! 


DACR 
DAC_I 
SPK_1 
GND 
SPK 2 


VCC 

RX 

TX 



ADKEY_2 
ADKEY 1 


IO_2 
GND 
10 1 


BUSY 
USB - 
USB + 


DFPlayer Mini pinout 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


13 






We are using the DFPIaver Mini. $8.90 from the original creators DFRobot. $9.06 at Amazon or as low as 
$1.52 on Eba> and $1.08 at AliExpress . With little more than power, ground and two more wires connected to the Nano, as 
well as the two wires to the speaker (< 3 Watt), you are ready to play. If you have an application where a user could press 
any one of 20 buttons to play 20 different "songs", you won't even need an Arduino, just read and build the AD KEY Mode ex¬ 
ample shown in paragraph 2 in this section online . In this article, however, we will be using the I/O Mode, since we also want 
the Nano to trigger on an input, like a train passing by or a person pushing a button and then play the "songs". Any 8 Ohm 
speaker would work, just know that the amplifier on the Mini can only deliver 3 Watts and it is powered from the Nano's 
regulator. Here arej_0 

speakers from Amazon for $9. Do know that the science of speakers making sounds are still at work here and an enclosure 
like a baffle might still be needed to give you the best sound. This article is not for audiophiles, you would have already 
installed the Kipnis Outer Limits Theatre equipment in your train room! 

First the wiring diagram: as shown in the next diagram, we will connect the speaker to the DFPlayer Mini with two 
wires. Note that your speaker might have a + and/or - sign for its connections, so hook the + to the SPK_1 on the 
DFPlayer and the - to SPK 2. If no polarity, just connect the speaker wires to SPK l and SPK 2. 



Power (5Vdc) and ground 

from the Nano (5V and GND) to the DFPlayer (“VCC” @ pin 1 and “GND” @ pin 7 or 10 on the Mini). Searching 
Google will show you discussions on which GND to use on the Mini, on mine, pin 7 and pin 10 are connected to each 
other with less than 0.01 ohms, so follow what you think is right. 

Nano to DFPlayer Mini connections (thanks to fritzing) 


14 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 








































To control the DFPlayer from the Nano, we need the orange wire from Nano pin D3 to RX and to get status 
from the player we want the yellow wire between the Nano pin D2 and the TX on the player. 

The bulk of the code is already done for us in a library that we can download, so install it using Sketch —> 
Include Library —► Manage Libraries. Do a search for DFPlayerMini and install the one by DFPlayer (currently 
version 1.0.5). Now all we need to use the code is the #include statement: 

#include "DFRobotDFPlayerMini.h" 

And a player object to use: 

DFRobotDFPlayerMini myDFPlayer; 

A software serial port is needed to talk to the DFPlayer Mini, and that library is included with: 

#include "SoftwareSerial.h" 

Then create the software serial port, since the default hardware one is already used by the communications 
towards the USB port, we add: 

ttdefine SWRXPIN 2 

#define SWTXPIN 3 

SoftwareSerial mySoftwareSerial( SWRXPIN, SWTXPIN ); // RX pin and TX pin to DFPlayer 

In setup( ) we set the baud rate to talk to the DFPlayer (9609 is the default), as well as the baud rate (I like 
115,200) to give us some information into the Serial Port Monitor (Ctrl+Shift+M) with the well known 
Serial.println( ) commands. 

#define BAUDRATE 115200 

ttdefine DFPLAYER_BAUDRATE 9600 

void setup ( ) { 

Serial. begin ( BAUDRATE ); 

mySoftwareSerial. begin ( DFPLAYER_BAUDRATE ); 

delay ( 100 ); //give the UART a little time to settle in 

Serial. println( VERSION_STR ); 

now = previous = millis( ); 

} // setup( ) 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


15 




VERSION_STR needs to be defined as expected, so always use something you can search for with your 
favorite file search tool when you come back in 3 years to look for the code. Higher up in the file, add 
something like: 

#define VERSION_STR "ML2020-01 Sound by DFPlayer Mini ver 0.001" 

From here you would like to know that the DFPlayer has a good working uSD Card inserted and maybe that 
there are some files on it that can be played. There are quite a few error messages that the DFPlayer can tell 
when something goes wrong, but we will write code here for the “happy path” and assume all is well all the 
time. You should definitely invest a little more time to catch most of the possible errors before you install this 
under your layout. Six months later when something goes wrong, you would want to plug it into a computer’s 
USB port and quickly see what the problem might be. There are error messages like BUSY, SLEEPING, 
CHECKSUM MISMATCH, FILE INDEX OUT of BOUNDS and FILE NOT FOUND that might not show up in 
your first hundred hours playing with it, only when you least expect it! 

So in setup ( ) we wait for the DFPlayer to tell us all is well, and only then do we continue to loop( ), 
where we do some work to decide what to play. Again, the “happy path” does not take into account that you 
might remove the uSD Card while it is playing, so that code to check while inside loop ( ) , would be your 
homework. Maybe a function called checklfAlllsWell( ) could be used by both setup( ) and loop( ) to 
accomplish the task. 

bool notReady = true; // keep track if the DFPlayer is initially ready 
void setup( ) { 

// 

while( notReady ) { 

if( !myDFPlayer.begin( mySoftwareSerial ) ) { 

// set myDFPlayer up to use softwareSerial and if not returning zero, 

// something is amiss 

Serial. println( "DFPlayer begin( ) failed:" ); 

Serial. println( "Check the wiring and/or insert a uSD card" ); 

notReady = true; 

delay( 1000 ); // wait a full second before trying again. 

} else { 

notReady = false; //if 
} // if ready 
} // while 


16 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 




Serial. println( "DFPlayer Mini ready." ); 


myDFPlayer.volume( 20 ); // set volume value, 0 to 30 

myDFPlayer.play( 1 ) ; // play the first file/song 

/ / ••• 

} // setup( ) 

And now a real program. In this example, when you connect pin 4 to ground, using something like a push 
button switch or a BD20 track sensor, it will play all the mp3 files in the base or root folder of the uSD card, one 
after the other as the pin goes low every time. If there is only one file on the card, it would play it every time the 
pin goes low. 

#define VERSION_STR "Sound by ML2020-01 DFPlayer Mini ver 0.001" 


#define BAUDRATE 115200 

#define DFPLAYER_BAUDRATE 9600 

#define TIMEOUT 500 

#define SWRXPIN 2 

#define SWTXPIN 3 

#define LEDPIN 13 

#define ButtonPIN 4 

#define MAXVOLUME 30 

#define ONE 


#include "SoftwareSerial.h" 

#include "DFRobotDFPlayerMini.h" 

SoftwareSerial mySoftwareSerial( SWRXPIN, SWTXPIN ); // RX pin and TX pin to DFPlayer 

DFRobotDFPlayerMini myDFPlayer; 

unsigned long int now, previous; 

byte volume = ( 2 * MAXVOLUME ) / 3; 
byte incomingByte; 
bool notReady = true; 

void setup( ) { 

mySoftwareSerial begin( DFPLAYER_BAUDRATE ); // DFPlayer default baud rate 

Serial. begin( BAUDRATE ); // baud rate to PC, (Ctrl+Shift+M) 

delay( 100 ); 

pinMode( LEDPIN, OUTPUT ); 
pinMode( ButtonPIN, INPUT_PULLUP ); 

Serial println( ); 

Serial printing VERSION_STR ); 


// heartbeat, and avoiding delay( ) 
// change this to a value you like 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


17 




while( notReady ) { 

if( imyDFPlayer begin( mySoftwareSerial ) ) { // use softwareSerial to communicate 

with mp3 

Serial println( "DFPlayer begin( ) failed:" ); 

Serial println( "Check the wiring and/or insert a uSD card" ); 
notReady = true; 

delay( 1000 ); // wait 1 second to try again 

} else { 

notReady = false; 

} // if ready 
} // while 

Serial println( "DFPlayer ready!" ); 

myDFPlayer volume( volume ); // set volume value, 0 to 30 

myDFPlayer play( 1 ) ; // play the first file 

now = previous = millis( ); 

} // setup( ) 


void loop( ) { 
now = millis( ) ; 

if( now - previous >= TIMEOUT ) { 

digitalWrite( LEDPIN, ! digitalRead ( LEDPIN ) ); // heartbeat 

previous = now; 

} // if 

// Check if pin is low, then play next 

if( digitalRead( ButtonPIN ) == LOW ) { 

myDFPlayer.next( ); // play next file 

Serial println( "Next..." ); 

delay( 1000 ); // crude button debounce 

} // if 


// send '+', 1 or 1 n 1 through serial port from PC 

if( Serial available( ) ) { 

incomingByte = Serial. read ( ); 
if( incomingByte == ) { 

myDFPlayer.volumeDown( ); // volume Down 

} // if - 


if( incomingByte == '+' ) { 
myDFPlayer.volumeUp( ); 

} // if + 

if( incomingByte == 'n' ) { 
myDFPlayer.next( ); 

Serial . println ( "next..." ); 

} // if next 

} // if serial available 
} // loop( ) 


// volume Up 


// play next file 


18 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 




Upload and enjoy! 

Thank you to Dr. Kamm of the Sue Line RailRoad in Shreveport for pointing us towards the DFPlayer Mini. A few 
more notes: 

- When you turn the DFPlayer on without, or with a bad uSD card, you’ll notice a very dim red LED on 
the player. When the card is good, the LED will be quite bright. 

- To avoid crackling noises when a song starts and/or stops, use software like Audacity to fade the 
sounds in at the beginning and fade out at the end. 

It does not seem possible for the DFPlayer to tell you how much time is left in a file, so if timing is 
important in your application, use a stopwatch to time them and hardcode the values in the Arduino. 

MP3 of WAV files can be used, sampled at as low as 8 kHz and as high as 48 kHz 

- The uSD card can be as small as 2 GB and as big as 32 GB. Formatted with FAT 16 or FAT32 as 
needed. 

- When you try to upload the code to the Nano and it fails on first attempt, make sure that you have 
selected, under Tools, the correct Board, Processor and Port. If you bought an Arduino at a very low 
price, it is very likely that you need to select ATmega328P (Old Bootloader)” as the processor. 

Article and code online, too. here. What next? Your turn! 

ML 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


19 






How to Build a 
Pump House 

By Leo & Lorrie Palitti 



Tools Needed 


Editor's note: See last issue for how 
to make the oil tank. 


Materials Needed 


Xacto w/ #11 blade 
Mat for cutting on 
Elmer's Glue 
Sanding stick 
Scale ruler 


Gator board 

Sheet of basswood 

6" piece of corner post 

Scale 8x8 for bracing 

6 pane window (w/glazing and shade) 

4 panel Door 

2 pc corrugated roofing 

Cardstockfor roof 


Brown paper for roof peak 
Vent pipe 

Scale lumber 1x3 (2pc) 

Roof peak scale 2x2 (3" long) 
Graph paper 


20 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 

















PLEASE NOTE: Use multiple passes with your Xacto blade to get a nice even cut. Yes, you can cut the wood with one 
pass but you'll tend to ride the grain of the wood and get angled cuts. More passes are better!! 


Stepl 


Step 2 


Cut the 6"corner posts into 4 pieces (1-1/4") while the 
Xacto blade is new. 


Find graph paper and use the wall outlines as guides to 
cut out the 4 walls. When done, hold the matching walls 
together and sand them until closely matched 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


21 





















































































































































Step 3 

Place masking tape on the backside of one peaked wall 
and one rectangular wall. Use the back of your fingernail 
to press the tape hard onto the basswood walls. Trim ex¬ 
tra tape from edges of the two walls. The masking tape 
helps to keep the basswood from splitting while you're 
cutting it. 


Step 4 

Preparing the door and window. You'll notice the sprues 
are still attached. Trim these off with your #11 blade and 
take your sanding stick and make sure they are sanded 
flush. There's nothing worse than looking at a nicely built 
structure that the modeler didn't take the time to do the 
one simple step. 


Step 5 

Cut the openings for the window and door. On the peak¬ 
ed wall (with tape) measure up 5 scale feet and draw a 
horizontal line on the tape and then draw a vertical line 
down from the peak. The window is 3/8" wide and 5/16" 
high. Measure out and draw the opening for the win¬ 
dow above the 5 foot horizontal line. PLEASE NOTE: use 
multiple passes with your Xacto blade when cutting. It's 
also better that the opening be too small and that you 
trim a little away to make the window fit the opening. 

Cut the door opening. The opening needs to be off 
center and about 3/8" away from the side. The door is 
15/16"tall and 7/16" wide. Do not be in a hurry because 
you'll split the wall. Take your time using several passes. 

If the wall does crack, let me know and I'll show you how 
to brace it and hide the mistake. Scratch building is all 
about being creative enough to hide mistakes. 

Test fit the window and door. If you are satisfied with the 
fit, VERY CAREFULLY remove the tape from the wall with 
the door. 


22 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 




1 









I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


23 



































































































































































































































Step 6 


Step 7 


Brace the inside wall & door. Cut two vertical braces for 
each rectangular wall. Also, cut one horizontal brace for 
behind the door opening (make sure to leave room for 
the corner post). Place these walls under your weights 
and let them dry. 


Add the 4 corner posts to the peaked walls. It's ok that 
they extend past the top and bottom, we'll come back 
later and sand them down. Make sure they fit snug and 
place weights over them while they dry. Most of your 
walls should sit flush with your corner posts but even 
though they're the same size you'll see some raised 
areas. 




24 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 















Step 8 

Now the corners posts should be dry so let's trim and 
sand the excess away. Be very careful and use small 
snips when trimming the posts with your Xacto. These' 
posts break very easily. 


Step 9 

At this time, add the window glazing to the inside of the 
window and add the shade if you so choose. 



Step 10 

Cut off one rung from the top of your ladder. Measure 
the ladder so the top rung is even with the top of the 
tank (leaving the two now extended side rails sticking 
above the top of the tank). Now put the ladder in place 
over the seam of the plating in order to hide the seam. 
Elmer's will work for this, I prefer Flamingo glue from 
Northeastern Scale Lumber (order on line). Hold the 
ladder in place for 2-3 minutes until dry. 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


25 









Step 11 

Make support brace for the roof. Measure the distance 
between the two peaks and cut the 8x8 a little long. 
Sand the ends, test fit and repeat until you have a nice 
snug fit. Glue in place. 


Step 12 

While the structure is drying, put the building on the 
graph paper and trace the structure lining up one corner 
with the graph paper. Set your structure aside to dry 
and we'll work on the roof. From what you just traced, 
add 1/4" to the length (sides) and add 3/8" to the width 
(front/back). Cut out the roof and set aside. Cut on the 
outside of the lines you drew. It's better to have a little 
extra than not enough. 


























































Step 13 


Step 14 


Painting the structure. Before you paint the structure. Now, glue the window and door in place at this time. 

take your 200 grit paper and go around your structure 

smoothing down where the corner posts and walls meet 

so there are no ridges. Go to the paint table in front of 

the club and spray your structure flat black. Be sure to 

hold the can at least 12 inches away to help prevent runs 

in the paint. 








Step 15 Step 16 


Using the crude ruler guide, mark lines to add battens 
to the sides of the structure. The ruler guide is the lined 
cardstock scaled out to HO scale 3 feet on center lines. 
Measure using the two outside lines as a guide with 
equal spacing on the left and right. Mark each line with 
your pencil. 

Cut and add the HO scale 1x3 battens. Pick each baton 
up with your #11 blade and gently run a small amount 
of Elmer's the length of the batten. Before putting each 
baton in place dab the glue with a paper towel removing 
most of the glue (it doesn't take much glue for the baton 
to stick and glue won't ooze out the sides). 


Get the roof you cut earlier and find the exact middle 
(count the number of lines and divide by 2). If you have 
an odd number divide the space in the middle. Using 
your scale ruler, score the center line. By"score"you 
want to cut almost all the way through the card leaving 
just enough material you can bend it over the peak/ 
ridge. Before you glue it in place, sand the tops of the 
front and back walls. You want to bevel them to match 
the angle of the side walls so the roof will fit snugly. 
When you're happy with the fit, glue the roof in place by 
running a small bead of glue around the top of the walls 
and ridge. Center the roof and hold in place until glue 
starts to set. (2-3 minutes) 


Let dry a couple of minutes and trim away the overhang. 























Step 17 

Inside your package is a small HO scale 2x2 painted 
black. Glue the 2x2 into the opening you scored on the 
ridge. Next, there are three paint pens on the tables, 
grab one and color the edge of the roof where you cut 
it. Find the piece of brown envelope that's been painted 
brown. We'll use this for the ridge cap. Measure down 
about 1/8" from the fold and cut a nice straight even 
piece. Next measure the length of the roof (should be 
around %"). The best way for consistency is to build a 
simple jig using the leftover 8x8. Put down some 2 sided 
tape on the lines of the graph paper in the shape of an 
"L". Cut a stopper 8x8 and another 8x8 the length of your 
roof. Using your #11 blade as a chopper, chop up your 
roofing into equal pieces (the length of your roof). There 
is also a wide piece of roofing. Cut to pieces of that to 
length. Now you want to apply these roof sections a little 
bit at a time, spread your Elmer's sparingly on the roof 
card. Start on one end and work toward the other end 
lay the roofing down where they just overlap the piece 
next to it. After you have 5 pieces of roofing in place, 
measure to see if you'll make it to the end. If it looks like 
you may fall short, trim one of the wider pieces down to 
make it all fit. When you have all the roofing in place, add 
the ridge cap, trim to fit and touch up the ends with the 
paint pen. 


Step 18 

Add the vent pipe to the backside of the structure. Drill a 
hole and mix some Elmer's and black paint (like we used 
last clinic) add a small amount around the bottom of the 
pipe and slide it into place.The black glue will serve as 
pitch around the base. 


Finished! 

And now you have a pump house to go along with your 
oil tank! ML 


Editor's note: See previous issue for 
how to make the oil tank. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


29 




LSR Board 
Meeting Minutes 

Houston, Texas - February 13,2020 


President Chuck Lind called the Annual Board meeting to order at 2:01 PM. 


Roll call 


All of the officers, directors and committee chairpersons were present except: 
Voting Board Members: 

Position Elected Rep Proxy 

Advisor - Steve Barkley 

At Large - Blake Bogs -Jeff Palmer 

At Large - Riley Triggs 

Director -Mike Mackey -Jeff Palmer 

Director - Ken Mason - Gert Muller 

Director -BobThiele 

Director - Dave Lamberts 

Non-voting Board Members: 

Membership - Ken Kaiser 

Guests in attendance: 

Phil Stewart - Division 8 Director Elect 
Fred Headon - Canadian NMRA Director 


Minutes of Previous Meeting 

Jeff Palmer provided a motion and Ray Byer seconded to dispense with the reading of the minutes and approve as published 
the Minutes of the June 27,2019 Annual Board of Directors meeting published in the 2020 Summer issue of The Marker Lamp 
- designated as 2020-02-13 LSR Motion 1 passed. 


Officers Reports 
President Chuck Lind 

Things in the Lind Household are getting back to somewhat a normal state. Returning from the Narrow Gauge from 
California made for a great way to end the convention. Scenery through the Sierra Mountains and the Rockies was worth 
the price of the ticket. You will travel through around 40 tunnels between Denver and Sacramento with the longest being 
MoffatTunnel which takes 10 minutes to go through and crosses you under the continental divide. 

Since returning have gone through a couple of eye surgeries to repair retina damage in my right eye, so having to type 
h - this with one eye. - 


30 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 








The convention for 2020 will be in Houston, February 13-15. Yes, I know that is Valentine's Day, but the San Jacinto Model 
Railroad Club always has their train show on the third Saturday in February so changing the date with the Stafford Center in 
not an option.They have put together what looks to be a great convention in conjunction with the train show. Attendee's 
to the convention will get free admission to the train show as well as being let in an hour before the general public. Will 
this format work? Who knows but we are again thinking outside the box from the usual convention so only time will tell? 

It looks like we tentatively have conventions now planned for 2021 and 2022.1 will not say anything else to steal Marc's 
thunder. Marc has been working very hard to get conventions lined up that will not have to include the Dallas/Ft Worth 
area since they will be hosting the NMRA National Convention in 2023. Marc is still looking for a host for the 2024 con¬ 
vention so Division Directors in some of our other regions it's time to step up. 

The Board meeting will be held at 2PM on February 13that the Stafford Center. 

Thanks for all of the Board members which has made my job as President a little easier this year. I hope everyone has a 
very Merry Christmas and an even Greater New Year! 

Vice-President Ray Byer 

No matters concerning the LSR have are brought before the Vice President at this time. 

Treasurer Gert Muller 
2018/2019: 

Beginning Balances (2018/05/01) 

LSR Unrestricted Accounts 
Beginning Total LSR Net Worth 
Bob Clarke Award Fund 
Division 2 and 7 Rebates in Escrow 
Delattre Fund 
Bank Saldo 

Proceeds 
Convention 
NMRA Rebate 
Total Proceeds 

Disbursements 
NMRA Rebates to Divisions 
Convention Non-rail 
Contest Room Expenses 
Website Expenses (covering 3 years) 

Total Disbursements 
Net Proceeds-Disbursements 

Updates to the Restricted Funds: 

Division 2 Rebate out of Escrow $ -0.50 


Division 7 Rebate in Escrow $ 10.50 

Division 7 Rebate in Escrow $ 10,50 



20.50 

Ending Balances (2019/04/30) 

LSR Unrestricted Accounts Total 

$40,817.76 

Total LSR Net Worth 

$40,817.76 

Bob Clarke Award 

$ 528.86 

Division 5 and 7 Rebates in Escrow 

$ 99.00 

Delattre Fund 

$ 816.00 

Bank Saldo 

$42,261.62 


$ 427.50 

$ 740.00 

$ 455.29 

$ 596.14 

$ 2,218.93 

$ 2,140.07 


$ 3,504.00 
$ 855.00 

$ 4,359.00 


$38,677.69 
$38,677.69 
$ 528.86 

$ 78.50 

$ 816.00 

$40,101.05 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


31 











Secretary Jeff Palmer 

Since our June 27,2019 BOD meeting, the LSR Secretary worked with the Nomination Chair, Blake Bogsand now Pete Leach, 
to hold the 2020LSR Officers election. This is an ongoing process which began shortly after the Annual BOD Meeting in June 
2019. The first phase of the process is to identify the candidates, and obtain their profile. This phase just closed on December 
1,2019. The second phase is to turn all of the profiles over to the web chair and the building of the election website - https:// 
qeekwithtrains.com which was done. The last phase is to report back to the Nomination Chair with the online results to be 
merged with the snail mail results. 

I have worked with the President to help fill a number of Chair positions. 

In each of the months since the BOD meeting, the secretary posted the NMRA Roster Reports. 

Currently the secretary is trying to pull together the various reports from the other LSR Officers and Chairs in preparation of 
the February 13,2020BOD meeting in Houston. The cooperation of the officers and chairs would be greatly appreciated. 

Looking forward to the 2020convention. 

As covered in the Web chair Report, the LSR Website continues to be stable. I would also like to thank Chris Atkins for allowing 

the LSR to use the https://geekwithtrains.com 

website to hold our elections. 

I have given 4clinics to the Division 1 folks so far this year on Scenery and Roads. One last note, please remember in your 
reporting that education is our prime directive and to hi-lite it where possible in your reporting. I would like to give a special 
thanks to Blake Bogs and Pete Leach. Pete stepped into the Nomination Chair position mid-election and has been playing 
catchup. Pete has done an exceptional job and Blake continues to provide insight and help for those tasks turned over to Pete. 
For the past several months, the LSR and the NMRA have been involved in a war of words. The war began after a number of 
issues were experienced over hosting the 2023 National Convention and when Mike Mackey was left off of the NMRA WDD 
election ballot. During this time, there has been an exchange of 6 emails, each series being more direct and to the point than 
the previous. When all was said and done, the NMRA failed to answer any of the questions asked, and missed represented the 
known knowledge and facts relevant to the situation. It was a disappointing experience. 

Advisor Steve Barkley 

No Report 
Directors Reports 

Division 1 Director Mike Mackey reported: 

First off, I'm hoping that everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year's celebration! Division 1 held their annual Christmas 
party on December 14 th and had a superb evening. The 47 people in attendance delighted in lots of fun, food, and fellowship. 
Our gift exchange delivered lots of hijinks as members fought over different prizes that captured their eye. 

Division 1 has been especially busy in the past few months with different functions. Our October meeting gave us a great pre¬ 
sentation on "Mail Trains" by Jim Ogden which was extremely informative. We moved our November meeting from our usual 
second Saturday of the month to the first Saturday due to the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 tour through Texas. Unfortunately, 
this meeting move conflicted with the tri-annual hosting of the DFW interchange operations sessions. Despite the conflict we 
still had over 40 member enjoy the first in a series of four clinics on building roads, hosted by Jeff Palmer. 

On the next Saturday, November 9 th , we gathered at 8:30 at the Texas Western Model Railroad Club to depart to Buffalo, Texas 
to watch the largest steam engine in the world, UP 4014 make her appearance and tie up in Palestine,Texas. Twelve car loads 
of railfans made the trip.Thanks to UP employee and Division 1 member Eric Lewis, we had some prime viewing locations that 
provided some fantastic shots and video which were not marred by other spectators.Thanks again Eric! 

The start of December saw our members hard at work helping another division with a membership drive. As many of you 


32 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 









already know, the Oklahoma City Train Show is traditionally held the first weekend of December. The local NMRA division, The 
Oklahoma Heartland Division, has not had a presence at the show for over 5 years. This small division of less than 10 members 
has been struggling to get things going to say the least. After learning of the situation, Division 1 members helped to organize 
a booth at the show. With the help of some Division 3 members, Division 1 manned the booth to spread the word about the 
NMRA. Which brings us back to the division Christmas Party on the next weekend. 

2020 promises to be another banner year for Division 1. We already have our schedule of meetings filled for the year which will 
include everything from a demonstration of how to scratch build N scale bicyclists to enjoying a live steam presentation. We 
also have a couple of make and take clinics sprinkled in along the way. For a complete list of meeting topics, please visit our 
division website at www.cowcatcherdivision.org . 

Division 2 Director Ken Mason reported: 

Division 2 is continuing with operations at the Mid-South Club in Baton Rouge and the Crescent City Model Railroad 
Club in the New Orleans Area. I have not heard of any other operations taking place in our area. 

Mid-South hosted open house dates in October and the CCMRC is gearing up for their open house season starting in 
late November and running through early January, 2020. 

Our area TCA group once again hosted the Ponchatoula Train Show on November 2 and was well attended with many 
operating layouts and plenty of vendors with items for sale. 

We are also gearing up for our Division 2 Train Day at the Library to be held on April 25, 2020 at the East Bank Regional 
Library in Metairie, Louisiana. This will be the first train sow of any kind in our area in a very long while beside the open 
house dates that have been hosted by the CCMRC for the last few years. We already have commitments from the Cres¬ 
cent City S-Gaugers, who have a large 20 x 25 foot"S"scale modular layout, The CCMRC with their growing modular 
layout, Operation Lifesaver, the Greater Baton Rouge Model Railroaders, the Louisiana Train Collectors Association and 
the Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society. I am hoping to recruit a few more attendees and get a few more smaller 
running layouts to attend to make a good showing at the library and in this area to promote the hobby of model rail¬ 
roading and railroad safety. 

Finally, it seems that membership in Division 2 is holding pretty steady with 107 members for the past 3 months and is 
up from 105 back in July. Hopefully we can continue this trend of small growth and not lose any members. 

That's it from Division 2 this time. Looking forward to the convention in the Houston area in February. 


Division 3 Director Donna Orr reported that: 

In August, our 4 Youth that were awarded the LSR Youth awards were recognized at this meeting so our members that 
were not able to attend the convention would see the talent that we have in our young members. Kathryn Moore and 
Nathan Finley brought in theirTTrak modules for us to see. 

With a packed house we had our clinic on Modeling water. We discussed all the various products out there and gave 
pros & cons for each as well as several techniques for making that lake, river, pond, ocean, waterfall or just a plain wa¬ 
tering hole look great.. 

At our September meeting, we had a great clinic on "LED Street Lights" by Vance Nurmi. Vance worked hard on devel¬ 
oping a clinic so we could follow his techniques and build some for our own layouts in several different styles and in 
any scale you need. 

At our October Thomas Stephens shared his clubs experience of moving their entire layout to a new location. And this 
was not just once, but twice in a very short period of time. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


33 





Over this quarter we had several interesting show and tell projects. Here are a few pictures of those projects.. 

And we also had two AP awards, Official went to Marc LaChey and Melvin Richards received Chief Dispatcher. 

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween and are looking forward to a great Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday season. 

Division 4 Director Bob Thiele reported: 

The Division has gathered three times during the second half of the year. In the July meeting the members conducted 
a series of mini clinics. The meeting started off with George Hollwedel demonstrating an interesting way to ballast 
switches. It is a simple technique and reduces the mess of ballasting. Using a tape underneath the switch, the ballast¬ 
ing mess is reduced greatly. Steve Tomczek and myself have been talking about initiating the MMR mentoring pro¬ 
gram. Steve put together a good presentation about the MMR achievement program and the necessary step involved. 
John Ames present new ideas on how to secure track work at critical points in your layout. Jesse Hoover demonstrate 
railroad computer simulations on how to build and operate virtual layout. 

During the September division meeting we had two mini clinics on structure building.Two members discussed the 
methods of construction using wood and plastic. The director explained to the membership the plans to implement 
the Division into a non profit organization. In the near future a new website will be developed with the goal of better 
communication between the membership. A new Division logo was created and approved by the members. With the 
501 c3 status, I hope to create benefits that will enhance the Divisions ability to promote the NMRA message. 

The November meeting presented a hands-on clinic. Members brought the necessary tools to work with plastics. 
Sheets of styrene, windows and doors where pass out to the members. Their task was to design, cut and assemble a 
building with material present. They where to take them home and finish their product. 

The Austin Model Railroad Society, and organization made up of division members, set up and operated their Modular 
layout at a local church. On Friday December 5 th the layout was open to the local schools to expose the children to the 
world of model railroad. After Breakfast with Santa on Saturday the layout out was open to the public with 250 plus 
visitors. 

Division 5 Director Dave Lamberts reported: 

December was a busy month for the Lubbock Model Railroad Association (LMRA). We hold our monthly meetings in 
a Lutheran church and each year the church asks us to set up our modules for a Christmas program. Since the church 
does not charge us monthly rent, we always say yes. 

The following week the Lubbock Science Spectrum also wanted to set up a display for two weeks before and after 
Christmas. The set up brought in several hundred people which the administration of the Science Spectrum loved. 

What has proved to be popular with the attendees are the so-called T-Track modules. They are approximately two feet 
by two feet (single), although it is also possible to construct a double or triple. The modules are highly standardized so 
that they may locked together for display. They don't need feet since they are constructed to set on table tops. I have 
the LMRA plan specification if anyone is interested let me know. 

Division 6 Don Winn reported: 

Although I usually don't like too much momentum in locomotives, momentum is continuing to build in the South Texas Divi¬ 
sion, and that's a good thing! 

The South Texas Railroad Socials (http://www.southtexasrr.com/) continue to draw around 40 participants at our quarterly 
events. During the NMRA Update segment of the socials, we are raising awareness and interest in the AP program; encourag¬ 
ing members to bring their models forjudging. 

Members presented a number of clinics during the past 6 months (see Education Report), including a hands-on clinic to make 
Fast Track turnouts. 


34 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 





The fall New Braunfels Train Show was well attended as always, and provided an opportunity for members to chat about 
where we are going with the hobby. 

Division 7 Director Don Kimmell reported: 


Bit late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. 
I hope that everyone's holidays were filled with...trains! 

It has been pretty quiet in this area. Of course, we did have a 
visit from 4014 back in November there at the old Marshall, 
Texas depot. It was a lot of fun, and did see a good number of 
LSR members from all over North Texas and Louisiana. It is one 
massive engine. 

The ArkLaTex Modular Club did their usual two week at the 
Shrine Hospital for the holidays. To see the look on these kids' 
faces as they watch the trains travel around the layout is really 
something! To be in various casts, many times multiple casts, 
and be able to smile and laugh as the trains run by, well.... Congrats to the ArkLaTex crew! 

The Kansas City Southern's Holiday Express had another great year. They donated over $170,000.00 to the Salvation 
Army at this year's 20 towns and cities. They had 67,500 visitors over those 25 days, which is an average of 2700+ 
visitors per night! This year saw 12 stops in Louisiana, from LaPlace to Lake Charles to Shreveport. Bout the only part 
of the state that we missed was North Eastern Louisiana, not enough days between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas 
Day. Another fun year. 

On the train show schedule, we have Tyler coming in March this year and Jefferson in it's usual May time frame. 

I am trying to schedule a half-day tree making clinic sometime in the March/April time frame. If we work things out, I 
will post it to the website. 



Division 8 Director Jim Lemmond reported: 

Division 8 Annual Meeting 

The Division 8 Annual Picnic and Meeting was held on September 28,2019, at Zube Park in Northwest Harris 
County. The Division held its election of Division Officers during the picnic. 

James Kelly was elected Division President. 

Chuck Lind was elected Division Vice-president. 

Ray Byer was elected Secretary. 

Tom Marsh was re-elected Treasurer for the Division. 

LSR Convention 2020 

web page: http://www.turbotrains.com/sunset2020/ 

The 2020 LSR Convention is moving ahead as planned. The web site is operational for hotel information, registration and clinic 
schedules. LSR registrants will have the free entrance into the Greater Houston Train Show on Saturday, February 15,2020, 
with one-hour early entrance. 

Remember LSR Youth Award nominations are due to the Division Directors by November 1,2019. 

The LSR Contest information is available on the 2020 Convention web page. 

Upcoming Events in Division 8 for 2020. 

Division 8 has a complete schedule of monthly clinics and workshops for 2020. All model railroaders are wel- 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


35 









come to attend and participate. All events are held at the Bayland Center. 6400 Bissonnet, Houston. 9:30 a.m. 
to 12:00 p.m. They are as follows: 

January 25th -- Gas station (Chuck) + Prejudging model / paperwork for contest 
February 1 st -- Prejudging model / paperwork for contest (Ray) 

March 21 st -- Scenery ( Loren) 

April 18th -- Intro to PanelPro (Jim) 

May 16th --Track Laying &Turnout wiring (TBD) 

June 13th -- LED Lighting (TBD) 

July 11th-- Keep Alives (Blake) 

August 8th -- Passenger car detailing (TBD) 

September 19th -- Block detection (TBD) 

October 10th-- Soldering (TBD) 

November 21st & December 12th -- Make & Take (TBD) 

Annual Houston Area Layout Tour 

The Houston Area Layout Tour begins on November 1,2019 and last through December 14, 2019. The Tour guide for each 
week is available on the San Jacinto Model Railroad Club web page and is updated weekly. A special feature is an operating 
layout built and run by Hogg Intermediate School students and their sponsor JayC Williams. 

San Jacinto Model Railroad Club web page: http://saniacmodeltrains.org/Fall-Lavout-Tour.html 



Division 8 Clinic on Programming DCC Decoders 


36 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 












Programming a DCC locomotive with a MRC Programmer 
Director-At-Large Marc LaChey reported: 

As a Director at Large, I have the luxury of not being confined to updating the region on the activities of a specific 
Division. So, for this report, I will share with you the benefit of visiting prototype museums and railroads as a means to 
inspire and enhance your modeling. 

We all know the adage that a photo tells a thousand words. But have you heard that going out and seeing something 
in person beats just one photograph? (I just made this up). My point is that getting out in the field and studying a 
subject live and in person can't be beat for improving your modeling. 

For example, last summer I visited the Laws Railroad Museum in Bishop, California. Up until this visit, I had never seen 
a gallows turntable before except in photos or drawings. The museum has a gallows turntable still in operation. I took 
a number of photos wile I studied the details of the turntable up close and personal. Even better, I got to see the turn¬ 
table in operation as Duane Richardson, Steele Craver and Jeff Palmer supplied the manpower to give the turntable a 
twirl. The next day, we stopped by the Nevada State Railroad Museum. They also had a gallows turntable. And once 
again I took a number of detail photos that you don't normally see in books. So now I am ready to model a gallows 
turntable. 

Next summer, the Cumbres &Toltec Scenic Railroad will be celebrating their 50 th year of operations. The C&TSRR will 
have a number of special activities occurring during their season. One of which will be a gathering 19 th century wood 
burning steam engines. So, if you have any interest in seeing first-hand the operation of wood burning engine, here is 
your chance! 

Last, it was my intent not to stand for another election as Director at Large. After two terms, I thought it was time to 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


37 








step aside and allow someone else to hold this office. As the time for nominations for next year's slate of board mem¬ 
bers came to close, Jeff Palmer called and asked me to run for another term. Seems the nominating committee was 
having a hard time finding candidates for this At Large position. So, I agreed to stand for election for another term. 

Director-At-Large Blake Bogs reported: 

It has been a successful six months for my Director at Large Position. 

Marker Lamp- See my Director at Large article in the Marker Lamp 

Nomination- Officially resigned in October 2019. Found about half of the candidates before this date. 

Clinic's given: LSR Convention: June 2019 (150 years and counting-The Golden Spike and Choosing a sound decoder) 
Division 8 meeting: July 2019 (Choosing a sound decoder) 

Volunteered- Tomball German Fest/ Other weekends. Once again have been running the O gauge layout. 

Director-At-Large RileyTriggs: 

The CenTex Division's 100% NMRA club, the Austin Model Railway Society (AMRS), is continuing its mission to educate 
the public about railroad activities in general and specifically the history of the railroads in around Central Texas. We 
have been and will continue to display monthly in 2020 at Lifeworks Austin, a non-profit that is a fearless advocate for 
youth and families seeking their path to self-sufficiency. We have several casual visitors during these events, and our 
plans are to provide organized opportunities for engagement with youth in their programs to learn about model and 
prototype railroading, and to become involve in a constructive hobby as part of their journey towards a better life. 

The Austin Area Train Show will be in Taylor, Tx again the first weekend in May, and the host 100% NMRA Austin Model 
Railway Society's modular layout will be displayed and operated for the public. Other modular clubs participating 
were the Tinplate Trackers, the Texas Brick Railroad, the AusNTrak, and the Hill Country Outlaws. Club and CenTex 
Division members also support the volunteer efforts for putting on the show, which is its third year in Taylor. There are 
plans to move the show to Austin's Palmer auditorium to increase attendance and vendor space. 

The search for more members and a more permanent home is under way to solidify the club and its activities. The goal 
is for the club to be a public outreach and education component supporting the efforts of the CenTex Division and 
LSR. Many of the club members are active in all the activities in the area. 

Department Reports 

Achievement Chair Duane Richardson reported: 

Now that the AP Submissions deadline has passed for January here is the AP report. It's a small list but we are also 
several months earlier than usual. 


Name 

Date 

Rod Fredricks 

Jul-19 

Marc LaChey 

Jul-19 

Melvin Richards 

Jul-19 

Tom Greco 

Jul-19 

** Returned, missed a requirement 
Randal Wilson 

Sep-19 

Pete Leach 

Dec-19 

Pete Leach 

Dec-19 

Pete Leach 

Dec-19 


Certificate 

LSR Certificate Number 

Official 

794 

Official 

795 

Chief Dispatcher 

796 

Motive Power 

797 


798 

Volunteer 

799 

Civil 

800 

Electrical 

801 

Scenery 

802 

MMR # 649 

803 


Contest Chair Ray Byer reported: 


38 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 




As of January 3,2020 all of the Contest Plaques have been made for the LSR Contest 2020 in Houston, Texas Feb13-15 th 
2020. We are checking on some outstanding items and printing for the contest voting. Should have that cleared up by 
the end of the month. 

After this convention all supplies will be used up, we will need to look at changing the awards that we give out to re¬ 
duce the cost or Keep the current awards process with a raise to the budget to cover the cost increase of supplies. The 
cost increase is from wood to make the plaques, ribbons for future city convention due to the lack future city signup, 
not being able to order a large amount to reduce the overall cost ribbons. This will need to be talk about at the next 
Broad meeting. 

Convention Chair Marc LaChey reported: 

Following a referral from our President, Chuck Lind, I have had some very preliminary emails and calls with the Pres¬ 
ident of the Mid-Continent Region, Brad Slone, regarding a joint convention between the LSR and MCoR. Initial 
conversations are for a convention to be held in Tulsa, OK in June 2021. More details to be developed. But this is very 
encouraging news. 

Even better, we have word from Bob Thiele of Division 4, that Division 4 is prepared to host the LSR convention in 
2022! Again, I expect more details to be available after the winter board meeting in Houston in February. 

So, it now appears we have conventions set for 2021,2022 and the NMRA National in 2023. 

Education Chair, John Cootz: No Report 

Events Chair, Bill Dryden reported: 

We are gaining ground as more folks are sending in notices for up-coming events, though I am still getting some notic¬ 
es few days or so after I have submitted the column. There have been several folks who have called, following up with 
e-mails with more details. 

One of my better sources has dropped off the web; some notifications I had received only through that source may be 
lost. If there are upcoming events that members are aware of occurring, please let me know. 

Anyone having events to be published, please send me the details: 

bdrl 49(5>airmail.net 

A reminder to all: 

Please consider our deadlines for submittals and publications to allow adequate lead 
time to correctly announce your event - Column submission deadlines are the 15th of 
January, April, July and October; publication of the Marker Lamp is the middle of the 
following month. 

Historian Chair Bob Barnett: No Report 
Membership Chair Ken Kaiser reports: 

BOARD MEMBERSHIP REPORT 12 based on the Jan. (1,022) to Dec (949) membership reports. LSR membership de¬ 
crease by 73 members. Dec. membership decreased by four. Seven out of 8 divisions lost members. 

Breakdown by Div. follows: 



JAN 

DEC 

gain/loss 

Div. 1 

175 

163 

-12 

Div. 2 

109 

107 

-02 

Div. 3 

201 

180 

-21 

Div. 4 

150 

136 

-14 

Div. 5 

28 

26 

-02 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


39 






Div. 6 

90 

86 

-04 

Div. 7 

24 

27 

+03 

Div. 8 

245 

224 

-21 

LSR 

1,022 

949 

-73 


Nominating Chair Pete Leach reported: 

This is my first report since taking over for Blake Bogs. He has been a great asset to the LSR, Division, and to me espe¬ 
cially. I will continue to ask him for guidance as needed. I join the rest of the LSR members in thanking Blake for his 
leadership. 

A meeting of the Nominating Committee was held via teleconference on Sep 27,2019 to discuss how to address the 
request from a minor to run for Director-at-Large office. It was clear the this would be an issue because of our IRS sta¬ 
tus. Chuck Lind and Jeff Palmer are to discuss with the rest of the Board of Directors. 


Thanks to Jeff Palmer, we were able to fill in the openings with nominees for the 2020 elections. The open positions for 
2020 and the candidates are: 

Vice President - Ray Byers from Div 8 is running unopposed 

Secretary - Jeff Palmer from Div 3 is running unopposed 

Div 2 Director - Ken Mason is running unopposed 

Div 4 Director - Bob Thiele is running unopposed 

Div 6 Director - Don Winn is running unopposed 

Div 8 Director - Phil Steward is running unopposed 

Director at Large - Darrell Cowles from Div 1 is running unopposed 

Director at Large - Marc LaChey from Div 3 is running unopposed 

Director at Large - Pete Leach from Div 8 is running unopposed 

This is my first time involved in the process, but I hope to encourage more folks to run for office in future elections. It is 
important to attract new folks to the board to bring new ideas AND relieve the burden of leadership to those who've 
done their fair share. 


Personally, I am excited to join the board and help give back to all those who've helped me in my brief time with the 
organization. It has been a great year for me that culminated with the completion of my last 3 AP certificates that 
allowed me to qualify for my MMR. Thanks to Chuck Lind and Loren Neufeld for taking an afternoon away from their 
families to evaluate the results of my efforts on Scenery, Civil, and Electrical. And thanks to Duane Richardson for ex¬ 
pediting the process and forwarding the documents to National. I received a call from my friend, Pete Magoun, 3 days 
before Christmas advising me that my paperwork was approved and I was now MMR® # 649! It was a very nice Christ¬ 
mas! 


Non-Rail Virginia Feritag: No Report. 

Publications Chair Riley Triggs: 

The Marker Lamp is on schedule at the moment. 

The emphasis continues to be on the regular column contributors providing a strong base of material. Donna Orr, Gert 
"Speed" Muller and Blake Bogs are doing a tremendous job at producing interesting, informative and educational ma¬ 
terial for our membership. There are also several good one-off articles that are starting to happen as people engage 
with the AP Certificate program pursuing their Author certificates. 


40 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 





I would like to bring focus on the rest of the chair and directors in the region who have not been submitting reports. 
Each position should have something to say about their activities, the hobby, or the way they are engaging with the 
model railroading community as an elected or appointed member in support of the LSR's mission. 

Areas to address 

Advertising in Pike and Dealer ads still need attention. There has been some interest in upgrading ads to color, but no 
new pike nor dealers are participating. There has been no particular effort to acquire new ads this year, but this is an 
ongoing situation. 

Long term projects update 

Major projects are on hold to gather time and resources to accomplish them. 

Website Chair Jeff Palmer reported that: 

Our service provider, Host Gator, continues to provide an excellent service. Renewal for the next three years comes due 
1 /I /2020. The total cost for the services is $596.14. That cost includes the code backup function, Drupal is a SQL database and 
code cannot be backed up using normal backup utilities, and Intrusion detection and prevention. It's been three years since 
the old LSR website was hacked. 

The election website www.qeekwithtrains.com has served us well in the past and is being updated for the 2020 election. The 
site will set to open the election at 12:01 AM on the first of March and shutdown at 12:00 PM on March 30,2019. 

As to the Officer's Page, use the link at the bottom of the LSR Officer's page or the URL - http://www.lonestarreqion.com/ 
node/7 . Please remember, right now security is by obscurity or the general lack of availability of the material. No logon re¬ 
quired. Don't share. 

Over the past 6 months, 33 LSR emailing's have gone out, The volume will continue in support of the upcoming 2020 Conven¬ 
tion. 

Normal activity continues, as the posting of reports, motions, and emailing for the upcoming Annual Meeting. 

Youth Chair, Jim Lemmond reported: 


Division 4 

I, Robert Thiele, Director of Division Four, LSR region of the NMRA, would like to nominate Hunter Stuart for the 2020 
Youth Scholarship. Hunter has been a member of the BCSMRRS for three years. At the present tie Hunter is attending 
Blinn College in Bryan Texas. 

Hunter has learned many skills during his time with the club, including tracklaying and ballasting, different methods 
of creating scenery, and creating trees from sagebrush armatures. He enjoys painting, so he is currently in charge of 
painting backdrops for recently rebuilt sections of the layout. One of the rebuilds includes a need for a number of 
storefront buildings, so he is learning the art of kit bashing buildings to fit the available space and need. His future 
plans include learning about the electronics of the layout and how to install DCC decoders into locomotives. 

Hunter attended the LSR Regional Meeting at Frisco and enjoyed the various clinics, and wishes to continue to do so in 
the future. 


Division 6 

The Texas Western Model Railroad Club would like to nominate Lance Halderman for the annual NMRA youth scholar¬ 
ship. Lance is the son of Rebecca Halderman member and secretary for SAMRA (the San Antonio Model Railroad Asso¬ 
ciation) located in Live OakTexas. Lance is a fan of HO Scale and has had a total of 3 scales running on 1 layout at one 
time, N scale, HO scale and 0 gauge which proposed a challenge however he made it work. Lance is currently working 
on his 3 rd layout which is strictly HO Scale as that is the scale he has fallen in love with. 

Lance joined SAMRA with the objective of learning more about the hobby that he has loved since he was a year old 
and he is now 15. Lance has actively participated in operating sessions, however prefers the weekly "Fun Runs" as they 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


41 









are not as structured. Lance enjoys the volunteer opportunities at the museum and enjoys taking visitors on tours of 
the layout and showing them how the trains work as they cross through the towns. Not only does he enjoy the muse¬ 
um he also enjoys the volunteer opportunities that SAMRA provides in the community and as participated in events 
such as National Night Out for 2 years and the Night in Old Converse Parade. 

Most recently in May of this year, Lance and his mother joined in the "Great Chase to Ogden" for the 150 th Golden Spike 
of the 4014 Big Boy and The Living Legend 844 double heading from Cheyanne, WY to Rawlins, WY where they chased 
the Big Boy for 4 whistle stops, and headed back home to San Antonio, TX from Rawlins, WY, as the Big Boy headed on 
the remainder of her journey. 


Division 8 

NMRA member Donald Hand, and the Houston S Gaugers club, enthusiastically nominate Asher Murray for the annual 
LSR Youth Award. Asher, the grandson of HSG member Fred "Rusty" Paulus, began his journey toward the Achievement 
Program at age 4, when he tagged along with his granddad to Houston area train shows at which the Houston S Gaugers 
set-up and ran their modular layout. 

Soon, Asher was learning to run granddad's trains; and Asher then corralled some of granddad's older, less-detailed, cars 
and assembled his own highly imaginative consists. From that beginning, Asher has developed skills essential to modular 
set-up and take-down; starting as the"legs collecting"person, in time also becoming the"tree planting"person, and now 
is an assistant to our"DCC guru". As an example, at one area train show a vendor sought out granddad, to tell him how 
amazed he was to see a youngster willingly pitching in to perform member-level tasks. 

Today, at age 12, Asher is a fully qualified operator, focused on the skills by which operators share space on mainline 
tracks, cycling trains in both directions. He has been especially helpful among youngsters visiting our layout; introducing 
them to the concepts on which model railroading is built, and that "Model Railroading is fun"! 

Although he started with his granddad's S scale, Asher has become a full-fledged HO modeler in his own right; assembling 
a collection of rolling stock, and building a bedroom layout by himself, to share with friends and his younger sister. He 
has also built well-conceived and convincing models using Lego-brick components. 

We sincerely believe that the nomination of Asher Murray reflects the spirit of the annual LSR Youth Award. His enthu¬ 
siasm for the hobby, capacity to learn and grow, and outreach to other youth, are the hallmarks that distinguish Asher 
Murray as a candidate for the 2019 Youth Award. 


OLD BUSINESS 

Chuck Lind open old business by giving his thanks for the continued efforts of all on the board. He introduced our distin¬ 
guished guest from Canada Fred Headon. Fred briefly introduced himself and acknowledged what brought him to Houston, 
an educational program using model railroading as a tool. 

Gert Muller provided a budget report for the 2019/2020 fiscal year to date: 


42 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 





Bud. 


Lone Star Region 

koto: ATT fijtral yiHTrs ore f™ ftny through April Hath 











FY 

FY 

FY 

FY 

FY 

FY 

FY 

FY 


TY 




■sm 4- 

U R! *5— 1 iR 

3R3fl-?fll7 


7AlA-?!nQ 


2(Mffl-2UZU 


Actual 

Actual 

Actual 

Actual 

Actai al 

Actual 


Actual 

Approved Actual 

INCOME 


Adj Dealer, Marker Lm*p 

Se.ee 

$ ie.ee 

{e.ee 

$aa.effl 

$ 73 .ee 

{e..ee 

64e.ee 

30.60 


$20.00- 

se.es 

Ad, Pike, Marker Lamp 

55+1.00 

$152.00 

5 30+ . DO 

$2+5.00 

5101.00 

310+ ■ 00 

$122.00 

$o. oo 

36.96 

$0.06 

JJicoae 4 ... Lubbock 

S535.81 











Add £ tio.r-u l .£922 paye-ent. after FiacicI year 

{1S4.27 











Com 2-U.E2 Hapay Loan, Lubbock 

5l,OBO.OO 













{AjRBT.flT 










Corn/ 2013 Httfiuy lutm, Dfh 



62 j. 0 W .00 









Cnov Jflr.t Prnrtwrt*. t DFV 



Sa,331 .Ef 









Cenv Jj-M 1 fYoccada, .‘found 




$2,ess.ii 








(L'diw 2924 Repay Loan, Haunt! Hack 




32 , 000.00 













-{Ojflflfl.flffl 







Cunv 2 92 5 rraemmit*. Beaumont 





-SEee.eo 







Cnmf JS?K Hennv 1 firm, J1f-h' 





52,000.00 

32 J 000 .00 






Cany Wig ■Pruefiertri ERf 






Ssie.ee 






Corn 201 f Proceeds-, Wauston 







$220.00 





Corn JAYR Prnreed'Hj Rnunrl Hcirk 








52,455.55 




Conv 2 015 Proceed ij. THica 










{1,000.00 

$3,504.04 

Cam 2B2B Proceeds, Houston 











fkmn 












h (WM Robo t* 

62 ? 915. 00 

J-IjfflJiD, 00 

$I } 020. 00 

tijPin.oo 

ii, oie.&s 

{1.3-15 .00 

61 , SHB.O® 

$lj 730.00 


SI,700.00 

5SES.04 

■SuiJscrtpTtonj- 












fkie r, Sehnte, Hiihsrriptian* Total 

SI,545.00 

SL.55B.00 

Slj.329.BB 

51,919,SB 

51,910.00 

si.SL9.ee 

51,B4B.00 

51,700.0B 





SB.45 

{B.24 

{3.9S 

$2.0*1 

Sss.ie 

{iffl.ee 






interest troa Corn Fi/nd 

§3.as 

52. DU 

51.92 

io.wr 

320.00 

$19 .92 






AateAn s and Deco la 

5h. flfi 


{6 . RR 


Sfl.na 

{ffl.RR 






VS SB L 







$93.31 





JtiuTiw Sin 1 h 







S3.00 



53.ee 

5e.ee 

Iron a Per from Sarinji 












TOTAL INCOME 

51, JIB.90 

$5jd6E.B0 

$12j050.11 

57,030.12 

51,033.00; 

$+jfl5t.9E 

$2,321.51 

54,2+3.35 

$ 2 ,Ti3.ee 

54,339,00 












TY 

rr 

nr 

nc 

nr 

nr 

rr 

nr 


FY 

Nnt-A! ATI Fi^i-aT yp-iiri are f rom Hny 1 thrnugH April 7R 

26LL-1B12 

2012-2611 

2B1S-20L4 

2B14-2015 

2015-2016 

2616-2617 

2017-20 LB 

201B-2B19 



EXPEWSES 



Appr-o-v&d 

Actual 



AcfiievereiiL-LSR Prujr Hn 

590.93 

6T.51 

$227.11 

$30.5+ 

$0.00 

$100.00 

$0.00 

$0.00 


$59.69 

$6.66 

knard 'Kiip-M nm 


520 t .53 

3i»a . 3+ 

5312.32 

$0.00 

30.00 

5«1.39 

SO. 00 


55w.ee 

5u.ee 

Hid Ye nr Meeting Lxpenu 




3e.ee 

6i74.ee 

$e.ss 

{e.ee 

$e.ee 


{so.00 

{0.00 

Contest-ConventTofi 

5150 .02 

5+25.52 

613+.+S 

$1,103.09 

$903.0+ 

3220.50 

$502.77 

$599.20 

$+36.96 

5*33.29 

Convention T rwsn rail 



56. BB 

30.00 

5503.00 

50.06 

52L4.69 

5500.00 


559e.ee 

574e.ee 

Copy 2912 Advance bo Haul ton 

6e.ee 


{ffl. E-B 

se.ee 








Cnnv J.9M Arfvnnrp Pa /JRt' 

Ji.Boo.oo 

31 , 000.00 

SO . OB 

3a. wo 








Con v 2 PH Advance to RR 


{sbs.bb 

$1, 50®.BB 

se.ee 








Cfirv 3 823 Attvyncv tv fiiwiinuri L 




$2,000.00 

$2,000.00 







Cony 2 02 5 Ion of- convention 





$5RR _ flfl 







Com- j«u. Afifro,nc» to SQf 





$ 2 ,eee.ee 







Convention Esenercri Expense [JJ 




3a. oo 








5MCS IRt loMai* 




{ifliR.ee 








PJMSA ReLaLe Lu Ur vis ions 






$951.25 

$ 1,1+9.00 

$090.00 


$059.60 

5*27.36 

FTH-Hnn-FipiniM 



SI.353.62 

51,242.21 

52*6.95 

357.36 

5GB.01 

5194.32 


siue.ee 

se.ee 

1 li ato-ri»r expenses 

$116.55 


$m. 07 

io.ee 

SIS.16 

se.es 

{3 E.97 

ie.ee 


$30.00 

$0.00 

ffemdersnip 


5202.10 

So. oo 

300.00 

$0.00 

$0 ,oc 










Procidunt-Off i eo Exptnui 

$in.m 


{ffl.fflB 

{fl.fle 

{R.flfl 

{fl.flfi 

{fl.RR 

{fl.flffl 


6i5.ee 

5e.ee 

Secre-tnrj- C«p. 1 Postage 

6M.T! 


S+s.eo 

$05.77 

6e.ee 

$e .oe 

6ffl.ee 

ie.ee 


50.60 

Jo.oc 

lre-a surer txp. i Postage 





$0.00 

30.00 

50.00 

30.00 


5i3.ee 

5u.ee 

KadlUL-LflK Print L Rail 

$S r 34^.RR 

$Sj UA.TR 

{ft . «e 

{fl.ee 

6r . flfl 

{fl.fflffl 






Sign and Print Tor Events 








sao.cc 


523.66 

$6.60 

JLidin/viiuil 





50.00 

30.00 

5B.0B 

51,500.77 


55 u.ee 

se.ee 

Herrcn' aL Denotaticris 

SOB.EE 

{ise.ee 

Se. ee 

$47.ee 

6e.ee 

se.es 

$7s.ee 

6aee.es 


{50.00 

$0.00 

tied Site 

559.00 

$59.50 

$39.50 

$0.00 

$0.00 

3209.00 

510.32 

$30.32 

5119.66 

5390.14 

Bank Costa 







$7 fl. RR 

{23 .flffl 


6io.ee 

5e.ee 

YuuLli FT ugr d- 

61+0 .00 

$52.00 

$20 .oo 

$0.00 

$32.00 

$0,00 

$221.00 

9300,00 


$309.00 

$0.00 

Youth ThninrAn 




3a. 00 

$0.00 

$0.00 

$0.DB 

$0.00 


5e.ee 

5u.ee 

TOTAL EXPENSES 

{7 r 354.Bl 

$7,71®.72 

S4,171.:21 

$7,sea. is 

{6,367.63 

$1,605.71 

{2 P 32S.3S 

6+,4ei.es 


$1,725.00 

{i,lie.os 













NET ( INCQHE-EXPEHSE3) 

S3 

-Jijflii, 92 

5«,ira. 92 

$495.92 

-$4, 712 . TT 

$3 t 94S.2T 

-$1.91 

-$210.50 

{«.h| Ji.i+e.ir 


Donna Orr briefly provided the status of the 2023 National Convention, which stated that everything was waiting on the 
NMRA to get their act together. No questions were asked. 


NEW BUSINESS 


The first item of new business was a discussion of youth, someone under the age of 18, serving on the BOD. While this has 
not been an issue in the past, this past election, a father volunteered his son to run for office. This nomination opened several 
concerns, the first being the legal aspect of someone under the age of majority in the state of Texas serving on a 501 (c)(3). 

In Texas, someone under the age of majority can not sign a contract, and can not be legally bound to a contract. The current 
LSR Constitution does not have a provision for someone under the age of majority to serve - each elected officer shares equal 
responsibility for the LSR and any contracts that might be signed. Needless to say, none of this changes with Louisiana and 
Parish law. As this conversation wound down, is was determined that no one under the age of 18 would be allowed to serve 
on the board, but the discussion turned to whether the age to serve on the board should be 18 or 21. While 18 is the age of 
legal majority in Texas and Louisiana, many on the board felt that there was a level of maturity no present in most 18 year olds 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


43 






























































































































































































































- lack of real world experience. The room was evenly divided on this topic. After about 30 minutes of discussion, the topic was 
tabled. Motion 2 failed. 

Youth Awards was the next topic of business. In January, the BOD conducted an email he ballot for the youth awards since 
the normal flow of activity was being changed, -normally, the youth awards nominees are presented at the Mid-Year BOD 
meeting and awarded at the summer convention, but this year, the process was altered to support the Houston convention in 
February. 

The email ballot approved Asher Murray, Hunter Stewart, and Lance Halderman. Motion 3 - Youth Awards proposed by Jim 
Lemmond and 2 nd by Jeff Palmer passed. The awards were presented at the Awards Ceremony. 

The third topic for discussion was the use of mailing lists, of more specifically, the NMRA Quarterly Roster and the 30/60 Day 
Past Due Reports. Eight years ago, the LSR setup that the LSR Secretary can receive these reports from the NMRA and distrib¬ 
ute to each of the Division Directors a copy of the reports to help manage each division's membership. Eighteen months ago, 
the Membership Chair got approved that each division needs a Membership person who has the responsibility of checking 
members with expiring memberships. To facilitate this activity, it was determined that the Division Director can provide the 
membership person for that division, membership information, and that the ultimate responsibility for that information still 
resides with the Division Director. No motion was associated with this discussion. 

The next topic was about Officer and Chair vacancies. It is the prerogative of the LSR President to appoint replacements for 
these positions, but the question that needs to be addressed is, "Are these positions still necessary?" At the present time, it 
was the consensus of the board to leave these positions vacant, but not due away them. No motion was associated with this 
discussion. 

The fifth topic for discussion, was about insurance for the BOD. In the state of Texas, a 501 (c)(3) can not be sued, or should I 
say, it is difficult to sue a 501(c)(3), but the officers can be sued individually. Would it be in the best interest of the LSR to get 
insurance for the BOD members to protect them from frivolous law suits? Donna Orr pointed out that many HOAs have such 
insurance and it is fairly inexpensive. A point for future consideration. No motion was associated with this discussion. 

Next up was a discussion about the Contest Room by Ray Byer.The board was enlightened about the expense of the con test 
room: 

Each Plaque costs about $26.24 
Each Ribbon costs about $5.25 

Each convention gives out about 33 plaques and 57 ribbons. Ray informed the BOD that the current lot of plaques is exhaust¬ 
ed, and we are in need of printing additional ribbons. 

No motion was associated with this discussion. 

Donna Orr presented the final numbers for the 2019 LSR Convention. The check had already been given to the LSR Treasurer, 
Gert Muller, for $3,504.00; the LSR profits for the convention. Each of the hosting Divisions, 1 and 3, have also received their 
profits from the convention.The 2019 convention was successful in every sense, attendance, financial, education, and fellow¬ 
ship. It was a joy to attend. The books are closed on the 2019 convention. Thank you Donna. 

Bob Barnett briefly let us know, all was ready for the 2020 LSR Convention. Prepare to have a good time. 

Marc LaChey presented the information about the 2021 LSR Convention to be held in Tulsa, OK. It will be a joint convention 
with the Mid-Continents Region and the money sharing will be passed on attendance; i.e. 25 LSR members, out of 100 total at¬ 
tendance will yield a 25% share of the profits. Work assignments, and other duties are currently being negotiated. To proceed 
Marc presented Motion 4, which was 2 nd by Ray Byer. After discussion, the motion passed. 

Prior to the BOD meeting, Robert Thiele submitted a request to host the LSR 2022 Convention. Robert was delayed getting to 
the board meeting but his request was presented to the board as Motion 5 by Marc LaChey and 2 nd by Jeff Palmer. After a brief 
discussion, the motion passed. 

Chuck Lind closed the meeting at 4:17 PM 

ML 


44 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 





Quit'n Time 

By Riley Triggs 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


45 










Saturday May 2 10:00 am to 5:00 pm 
Sunday May 3 10:00 am to 3:00 pm 

Williamson County Expo Center 

5350 Bill Pickett Trail - Taylor, Texas 
Just minutes past the Dell Diamond! 


Enjoy over 16,000 square feet of model railroading! 

Operating Model and Lego Railroads • All Scales • Dozens of Vendors • Buy and Sell 
Raffle • Self-Guided Area Layout Tour • Concessions • Free Parking 


Admission $7 

Children 12 and under FREE with adult • Admission includes both days 


M1IWINTER 2020 I 



46 


For more information, check out austintrainshow.org 
Sponsored by the Austin Model Railway Society 












You are Cordially Invited to the First Ever 

Red River Railway Prototype 
Modelers Meet 

Modular Layouts, Craftsman Displays, Clinics, Manufacturers & 

Layout Tours 


For the modelers who recreate the prototype 
Bring your favorite railroad models to display 


Saturday, June 27, 2020 


Forest Hill Civic Center 

10:00 AM-6:00 PM 


6901 Wichita Street 



Forest Hill, TX 


Admission $20 


Presented by the Texas Railway Modeling & Historical Society, 

And the Cowcatcher Division of the National Model Railroad Association 


TRMHS.org 

Facebook: Red River Railway Prototype Modelers Meet 



Sponsored in part by PolyPrinter 
Polyprinter.org 


£la5$ictflint 


Featured Vendors 



CUSTOM 

FINISHING MDGELS 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


47 



























Pike and Dealer Ads 




HOBOHen 

SH0R6 

R.R. 





Pike and dealer ads are now available in color for the same 
price! Share your railroad or advertise your business to 
others while supporting the Lone Star Region. 

• Do you have a herald for your railroad? 

• Is there a unique feature? 

• What is the name of your hotshot freight or crack passenger service? 

Let everyone know about it with a color ad! 

Pike ads are $8 per year and dealer ads are $20 per year. 

Payment should be made out to: 

LSR NMRA 

Contact Speed Muller 

Isrtreasurer&hun to trophy, com 


Ads can then be sent as a JPG file attached to an email to: 

rilevtriqqscaqmail.com 


JMLIWINTER 2020 I 































CCMRC ACF Covered Hopper Club Car Order Form 

The Crescent City Model Railroad Club in Metairie, Louisiana is offering this Accurail Crescent Lines ACF 
Center Flow 3 bay covered hopper in HO Scale. It is available for a donation of $30.00 for 
each car, plus $6.00 shipping for the first car and $2.00 for each additional car ordered. It is available in 1 road 
number, but additional number decals will be available for $4.00 per set. 

To order your car or cars, please send your payment made out to CCMRC for the correct amount to: 

Crescent City Model Railroad Club 
601 N. Lester Ave 
Metairie, LA 70003-6131 

Quantity: _X $30.00 each 

Total for cars: $_ 

Shipping: $6.00 

Additional Shipping per car $2.00 ea. $_ 

Total Enclosed $_ 

Thank You for supporting the Crescent City Model Railroad Club 




CRESCENT LINES 

s; 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


49 




















Director Reports 



Cowcatcher Division 1 

by Mike Mackey, MMR 
director@cowcatcherdivision.org 

cowcatcherdivision.conn 






First off, I'm hoping that everyone had a fantastic Christmas 
and New Year's celebration! Division 1 held their annual Christmas 
party on December 14th and had a superb evening. The 47 people 
in attendance delighted in lots of fun, food, and fellowship. Our gift 
exchange delivered lots of hijinks as members fought over different 

Division 1 has been especially busy 
in the past few months with different 
functions. Our October meeting gave 
us a great presentation on "Mail Trains" 
by Jim Ogden which was extremely 
informative. We moved our Novem¬ 
ber meeting from our usual second 
Saturday of the month to the first 
Saturday due to the Union Pacific Big 
Boy 4014 tour through Texas. Unfortu¬ 
nately, this meeting move conflicted 
with the tri-annual hosting of the 
DFW interchange operations sessions. 
Despite the conflict we still had over 
40 member enjoy the first in a series of 
four clinics on building roads, hosted 
Jeff Palmer. 

i the next Saturday, November 9th, 

? gathered at 8:30 at the Texas West- 
Model Railroad Club to depart to 
uffalo, Texas to watch the largest steam 
ngine in the world, UP 4014 make her 
pearanceand tie up in Palestine, Texas, 
welve car loads of railfans made the 
rip. Thanks to UP employee and Divi¬ 
sion 1 member Eric Lewis, we had 
some prime viewing locations that 
provided some fantastic shots and 
video which were not marred by 
other spectators. Thanks again Eric! 

The start of December saw our 
members hard at work helping 
another division, in another region, 
with a membership drive. As many 
of you already know, the Oklaho¬ 
ma City Train Show is traditionally 
held the first weekend of December. The local NMRA division, The 
Oklahoma Heartland Division, has not had a presence at the show 
for over 5 years. This small division of less than 10 members has 
been struggling to get things going to say the least. After learning 


50 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 


of the situation, Division 1 members helped to organize a booth 
at the show. With the help of some Division 3 members, Division 
1 manned the booth to spread the word about the NMRA. Which 
brings us back to the division Christmas Party on the next weekend. 

Please enjoy the photos I've included from several meet¬ 
ings we had in 2019. Left to right: 1) One of the many monthly clin¬ 
ics we had during 2019. 2) Dick Brannan receives his Volunteer AP 
Certificate. 3) Making Lou Sassi's "Ground Goop."4) MMR Jim Packer 
shares information on caboose techniques for the "Nevadun RR." 

2020 promises to be another banner year for Division 1. We 
already have our schedule of meetings filled for the year which will 
include everything from a demonstration of how to scratch build N 
scale bicyclists to enjoying a live steam presentation. We also have 
a couple of make and take clinics sprinkled in along the way. For a 
complete list of meeting topics, please visit our division website at 
www.cowcatcherdivision.org . 

Until next time...KeepTraining! 


























Bayou Division 2 

by Ken Mason 
series9parts(a)cox.net 

504-722-6610 



It has been another busy few months here in Division 2. We 
have had the Ponchatoula Train Show back in November that was 
hosted by the Louisiana TCA group, A number of successful open 
house shows at the Crescent City Model Railroad Club in Metairie 
from November all the way through January, and open house shows 
by the Mid-South Club in Baton Rouge and the regular open house 
dates hosted by the Greater Baton Rouge Model Railroaders in Jack- 
son, Louisiana. 

The annual Train Day at the Library in Baton Rouge this year 
was moved from the Jones Creek Library to the Main library branch 
on Goodwood Blvd this time. A record turnout of over 700 attend¬ 
ees came to this show. 

Another Ponchatoula Train Show is scheduled for March 
7, 2020, and not too far from our area is the Mobile Train Show the 
weekend of March 14-15 in Mobile Alabama. 

Of course by the time you read this the LSR Convention 
at the Stafford Center in the greater Houston area will be histo¬ 
ry. I think we have perhaps a record number of attendees for our 
division in recent history with at least 9 or 10 members from south 
Louisiana going to the convention this year. 

Plans are also coming together for the Train Day at the East 
Bank Regional Library in Metairie on April 25, 2020.1 hope to have 
a good number of operating portable layouts and other groups to 
promote model railroading and of course railroad safety. 

There will also probably be a couple of open house shows 
coming in May for National Train Day in our area too. 

Perhaps more clinics and meetings are in the future of divi¬ 
sion 2 since the open house season has come to an end for now. 

That is all from Division 2 for now. Let's all do our part to 
help promote the hobby of model railroading, the NMRA, and try to 
keep the division and region strong. 



I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


51 










In November, 2019, one of the high marked items on our survey requested by our members was "Rust & Weathering" 
so that was the clinic and it was hands-on! We had HO Scale Boxcar shells from NMRA Headquarters that we used for this clin¬ 
ic, they were painted but not lettered. 

We have a new Social Media Chairman, James Knabb and he is opening up avenues for others in the area that have 
not been exposed to the NMRA, to find out about model railroading. 




Craig & Duane Tribuzi assembled Decal kits that were available for those that wanted to also learn and practice apply¬ 
ing decals. These kits not only contained the decals but some of the setting solution that is used to make the decal settle into 
the model. Members also had the option to bring one or more of their own cars and do the weathering on them. 


52 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 



























For those that did not want to attend the clinic there 
was an open discussion. 

December 2019, Its, that time again. The most won¬ 
derful time of the year. And the Division 3 Christmas Party was 
on our normal 3rd Saturday of the month. Fun was had by all. 
And the White elephant was a hit as always. 




I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


53 











With the January Train show completed and 13 new members for Division 3 signed up we will Model Railroading 101. 
(we also signed up 7 new members for Divisionl, and 1 each for Houston, Missouri, Lubbock)There were 4 other clinics that 
we offered at this meeting, One was discuss Planning, Benchwork,Trackwork, and basic electrical. The second clinic discussed 
town and industry and any other type of structure planning and placement. The third clinic was a discussion of DCC, JMRI, and 
other related topics and the fourth was discussing scenery. 



f h \1 

Ik ' ^ \| 

■ x j I 

r 4 

jk* * * % * 


Ml . 1 ■ 

R 1 

~ W 1 -I .$■ 

fi V, 



Over this quarter we had several interesting show and tell projects. Here are a few pictures of those projects. 
I hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday season. 




54 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 
























CenTex Division 4 

by Bob Thiele 
director@centexnmra.ora 

CenTexNMRA.org 



Division 5 

by Dave Lamberts 
DavidWL 1944(Siaol.com 

806.792.7244 



As reported in the November ("Fall 2019") Marker 
Lamp, the Division has become a separate nonprofit organiza¬ 
tion (formally named "Cen-Tex LSR, Inc.")-The Cen-Tex bylaws 
state that we will continue to elect the office of Director (our 
executive officer) via the LSR election mechanism using the 
same schedule the LSR employs, while our other officer (Trea¬ 
surer) will be elected by the general membership at a regular 
meeting following the LSR elections. 

The LSR elections are held every two years, in even numbered 
years, and Bob Thiele was elected Director of the Division in 
May 2018. 

Because the new organization was formed outside of 
the regular election cycle, a vote was held by the membership 
to confirm that Bob would continue to serve as Director of 
the new Cen-Tex LSR, Inc. until the end of the current election 
cycle, which will be May 1,2020. 

In addition, the membership voted for Peter Kazmir to 
fill the office of Treasurer until May 1,2020. 

The organization will follow our normal election cy¬ 
cles after these short initial terms. (Both officers are free to run 
for re-election if they desire.) 


See Board of Directors Report. 





Division 7 

by Don K immell 

yf4kcs@mac.conn 

318.798.7718 


See Board of Directors Report 



Texas Gulf Division 8 

by Jim Lemond 
jimlem@verzion.net 


See Board of Directors Report. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


55 



























Division 6 

by Don Winn 
donnswinn&amail.com 

940.391.0950 


Anything big happening in the South Texas Division?? 
You bet!!! Nothing bigger than the BIG BOY!!! The 4-8-8-4 UP 
4014 made its tour through our area in early November. It 
spent a full day on display at the Sunset Station in San An¬ 
tonio. Plenty of opportunities to catch run-bys coming and 
going from the area. Probably will be an event never to be 
repeated. 

In December, the quarterly South Texas Railroad social 
held another successful event, with approximately 40 in at¬ 
tendance. Clinics included building a modelling desk, tuning 
up rolling stock, scratch building a diesel service facility and 
rail fanning around San Antonio.The next social is scheduled 
for March 28th at the Longhorn Cafe. Visit southtexasrr.com 
for more information on the quarterly events. It's free, it's fun, 
so come on out and join us. 

By the time you read this, we will be into February 
with the LSR convention in Houston and the SAMRATrain 
Show in Garden Ridge. Coming up in April is the spring ver¬ 
sion of the New Braunfels Train Show. It's always a good show. 
Please stop by the NMRA table and say hello. 

As always, if there is anything we can do to help you 
in your modeling, please don't hesitate to contact me. 












At-Large 

By Marc LaChey 
bu 1977(a>gtt.net 



As a Director at Large, I have the luxury of not being 
confined to updating the region on the activities of a specific 
Division. So, for this report, I will share with you the benefit 
of visiting prototype museums and railroads as a means to 
inspire and enhance your modeling. 

We all know the adage that a photo tells a thousand 
words. But have you heard that going out and seeing some¬ 
thing in person beats just one photograph? (I just made this 
up). My point is that getting out in the field and studying a 
subject live and in person can't be beat for improving your 
modeling. 

For example, last summer I visited the Laws Railroad 
Museum in Bishop, California. Up until this visit, I had never 
seen a gallows turntable before except in photos or draw¬ 
ings. The museum has a gallows turntable still in operation. 

I took a number of photos wile I studied the details of the 
turntable up close and personal. Even better, I got to see the 
turntable in operation as Duane Richardson, Steele Craver and 
Jeff Palmer supplied the manpower to give the turntable a 
twirl. The next day, we stopped by the Nevada State Railroad 
Museum. They also had a gallows turntable. And once again I 
took a number of detail photos that you don't normally see in 
books. So now I am ready to model a gallows turntable. 

Next summer, the Cumbres &Toltec Scenic Railroad 
will be celebrating their 50th year of operations. The C&TSRR 
will have a number of special activities occurring during their 
season. One of which will be a gathering 19th century wood 
burning steam engines. So, if you have any interest in seeing 
first-hand the operation of wood burning engine, here is your 
chance! 

Last, it was my intent not to stand for another election 
as Director at Large. After two terms, I thought it was time to 
step aside and allow someone else to hold this office. As the 
time for nominations for next year's slate of board members 
came to close, Jeff Palmer called and asked me to run for 
another term. Seems the nominating committee was having 
a hard time finding candidates for this At Large position. So, I 
agreed to stand for election for another term. 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


57 









Nominations 


Convention 



Happy New Year! I missed the deadline last issue so I have 
to catch you up on everything going on. I officially resigned as Nom¬ 
ination Chair in October 2019.1 felt it was time to step down due 
to everything going on in my masters program. I've enjoyed this 
position enormously and want to thank everyone for allowing me to 
serve in the Nomination Committee from 2011 to 2019. In the past 
8 years we have moved from paper ballots to electronic voting. This 
has been a great step in the right direction. I am proud of the nomi¬ 
nation committee and need to thank all of the members. Thank you 
so much for all your work. 

When you get the ballot you will notice I am not running 
again. This is officially my last term and it runs out this year mean¬ 
ing that this is one of the last reports you will be reading from me. I 
have a couple more reports and then I am finished as your Director 
at Large! I have expressed this in the past, but I will express it again. 
Thank you so much for having faith in me as your Director at Large. 

It has been the ultimate honor serving in this position. 

Our local model railroad fellowship group Petticoat has 
been having a lot of fantastic clinics recently. In September we had 
a clinic from Mike Baxter talking about all of the exciting things hap¬ 
pening atTheTomball Depot. In October, Gregg Hammargren gave 
a clinic on his HOn3 layout that he has been building. In December, 
Craig Brantley gave a talk on his 0/0n3 layout that will soon be torn 
out. In January, Jim Brandenburg spoke to us about his HO/HOn3 
layout. Finally, in February Chuck Lind gave a talk on one of the past 
Narrow Gauge conventions. We always have a fun time at Petticoat. 
Come join us some time on the first Friday of the month at Valley 
Ranch BBQ. We start meeting at 6. The clinic starts at 7. 

I'd like to take a step back to November when Big Boy 4014 
came through Houston! All I can say is WOW! The Big Boy put on 
quite a show for us in Houston. The Big Boy came into Houston on 
Wednesday and was displayed downtown on Thursday. Friday, it left 
for College Station. Then on Saturday, it went to Palestine. I was hon¬ 
ored to have seen it 3 of the 4 days it was in Houston. Even though it 
was pouring down rain on Thursday, I was amazed how the crowds 
turned out! I was amazed at how many people were at every stop! 
Thank you Union Pacific for bringing the Big Boy down to Houston! 

In January, I was able to attend the Plano train show as well 
as view a layout after attending the show. It's always encouraging 
to not only see a well attended show, but also see young people 
attending. Model Railroading is alive and well! 

I will end this reminding everyone that even though I am 
no longer Nomination Chair, election time is near! Our election will 
be conducted soon. Please vote! If you have trouble voting, please 
email Jeff Palmer or Pete Leach! 

Keep them trains running, 



Following a referral from our President, Chuck Lind, I have 
had some very preliminary emails and calls with the President of the 
Mid-Continent Region, Brad Slone, regarding a joint convention be¬ 
tween the LSR and MCoR. Initial conversations are for a convention 
to be held in Tulsa, OK in June 2021. More details to be developed. 
But this is very encouraging news. 

Even better, we have word from Bob Thiele of Division 
4, that Division 4 is prepared to host the LSR convention in 2022! 
Again, I expect more details to be available after the winter board 
meeting in Houston in February. 

So, it now appears we have conventions set for 2021,2022 
and the NMRA National in 2023. 


58 


MLIWINTER 2020 I 














Treasurer Report 



by Speed Muller, Treasurer 
lsrtreasurer(cbh unta trophy, com 

469-345-0022 


In the financial news: All the pennies are still here! You will notice the convention related amounts starting to show higher than 
last year. Well, we are paying for the Frisco and Houston conventions from the same financial year’s budget. Next year should 
not have those expenses. 

We still have full, one year NMRA memberships (including the magazine) available for any veterans or active service personnel 
who would like to join. 

Speed. 


First 3 Quarters, 2613/2020: 


Beginning Balances (2019/05/61) 


LSR Unrestricted Accounts 

638.677.69 

Beginning Total LSR Net Worth 

$38,677.69 

Bob Clarke Award Fund 

$ 

523.86 

Division 2 and 7 Rebates in Escrow 

$ 

78.50 

Delattre Fund 

£ 

816.00 

Bank Saldo 

$40,101.05 

Proceeds 



NMRA Rebate 

$ 

855,00 

Convention proceeds 

s 

3.504.00 

Total Proceeds 

$ 4,359.00 

Disbursements 



Rebates to Divisions 

$ 

427.50 

Website Costs (covering 3+ years) 

$ 

596.14 

Non-rail Expenses 

$ 

740.OO 

Contest Room Expenses 


455.29 

Total Disbursements 

$ 

2,213.93 

Net Proceeds - Disbursements 

$ 

2,140.07 

Updates to the Restricted Funds: 



Division 2 Rebate out of Escrow 

$ 

-0.5O 

Division 5 Rebate into Escrow 

$ 

10.50 

Division 7 Rebate into Escrow 


10,50 



20.56 

Ending Balances (2620/61/31) 



LSR Unrestricted Accounts Total 

640.817.76 

Total LSR Net Worth 

$40,817.76 

Bob Clarke Award 

$ 

528.86 

Division 5 and 7 Rebates in Escrow 

$ 

99.00 

Delattre Fund 


816.00 


Bank Saldo $42,261.62 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


59 















Dealer Ads 


B.E.D.T. 



Advertise your layout here 
...in color! 
contact 

GERT “SPEED” 
MULLER 

lsrtreasurer(a)hun tatrophv. com 



Tall Pine Lumber Company RR 

West Coast I >oggmg in On 3 
Chuck & 1 .auric Lind 
3680 County Road 324 
Navasota., Texas 77868 
979-219-3305 


Pike Ads 


Texas Western Model Railroad Club 

$WS fomi Hlil Dfivt. ronti m r TK 761*6 ftiUJ 587-2032 

eliding Nw HO £ HQn3 Ujw! 

Clinics 
100% NMRA 

vfWW.tvmtC.iffS Memberships Open 



HomeoflheTeMAt W^tef ft Train Show 


Thursdays 7:00 PM tt? &3C PM 
Saturdays 3cW PM to M0 PM 




Pennsylvania Railroad 
Laurel Valley Secondary 



Pittsburgh Division Circa 1957 
Brady & Jane McGuire, Sherman, Texas 
903-868-2726 

Southwestern Pennsylvania in Texas O Seale 







New Members & Visitors Welcome! 

How-to Clinics - Operating Sessions - Family Activities 
N'Crowd Model Railroad Society 

40 Q 7 E Beflafre Blvd., Houston, Texas 

www.houstonNcrowd.org 


Proud supporter 
of the 

Lone Star Region 


Cowcatcher 

Magsnnt 

www.cowcatchermagazine. com 


Cowcatcher 


All about the community 
of model railroading 

and rail enthusiasm! 


GRIZZLY RIDGE RR. 



The Bear-ly Make It Route 
A 6 1 Division of the 
Ark-La-Tex Modular Chib 
Tom White Haughton, La. 


A c 


CME 


& MINERAL 

. CITY 

RAILROAD 


Bill Drytkn 
(469)964-8571 
Georgetown* Texas 
bdrl49gpairnLaiL.net 
life Member NMRA & I .SR 



* LINES* 


M1IWINTER 2020 I 
















































Pike Ads 



MILWAUKEE 

f southwestern 

“THE LINDAS" 
WACO. TEXAS 

COWTOWN MODEL RAILROAD CLUB 

(Formally the LMRA Railroad Club) 

CMRRC 

Fort Worth, Texas 

An HO-scale, EasyDCC operating club rising 
from the ashes of a club that was forced to 


relocate and is in the process of constructing a 
new layout. Visit our website for membership 
and contact information. 


Gold Rail Award Winner 2009, 2010 & 2013 

' . /SSTERM 

www.cmrrc.webs.com 




THE ALLEGHENY RAILROAD 

HORSESHOE CURVI 

ALTOONA 



Jerry Schoenberg 

Carrollton. Texas (972)242-9053 

nrrjcrry@ool.com 


www.dovetailstudiQ.com/trains 




Advertise your layout here 
...in color! 
contact 

Speed Muller 

lsrtreasurer@huntatroDhv.com 



Gilbert Freitag Houston, Texas 


NEVADUN RAILROAD 


Jim Packer 

Co]1e>villc. Texas 7®! 
m-514-7291 

E-mail - j mi |Kit:]\.t!{r>:sljc”k]|jal.j lcL 

Website - WW.NEVAD1JNRAILRQAD.COM 


<^> 


OOTO 


EJ^Q[^C9WY7 0 00 

Mid South Railroad Club 

BATON ROUGH, LA 

MEETINGS: EVERY TUESDAY © 7:00PM 
HO WALK AROUND WITH NCi-DCC 
SANTAFE@TLXNET.NET 


I WINTER 2020 1 ML 


61 








































We are empty without you 


Next deadline for 
submissipns is 
April 15 


gmail.com